


Perks

by sssssssim



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), and nationals, and the avengers compound, cameos from various avengers, everything is (mostly) fine and nothing hurts (too much), there's prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 15:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14751767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sssssssim/pseuds/sssssssim
Summary: After Thanos is dead, it takes a while for Peter to settle, but he settles somewhere better than before. In a place where he can call Bucky and Steve his friends, where Shuri is his meme texting buddy, in a place where MJ holds a surprising place. A place where being Spider-Man does have its perks.





	Perks

**Author's Note:**

> this started off as a fix-it infinity war mini fic. it's not that.  
> it evolved into my first MJ/Peter fic with Stucky happening in the background.  
> as usual, this is too long, has little to no plot, and it's ridiculous in its fluffiness.  
> feedback is always welcomed :)

 

On a planet Steve didn’t remember the name of, in a part of the Universe he had no business being in. Surrounded by what was left of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (the Galaxy’s Mightiest Heroes - Rocket would say; I’m not a hero - Nebula would argue). Accepting his mistake but unwilling to fix it.

That is how Thanos died, in a flash of rainbow colored light, leaving behind a mangled gauntlet with six bright stones in it.

As soon as the light disappeared, Steve breathed a huge sigh of relief, in sync with Nat falling to the ground. She was fine, shaking but breathing, and Bruce was quick to run to her side.

Nobody said anything. For the next few minutes, they all caught their breath, in shock that they actually did it. They actually killed Thanos.

Thor somehow managed to secure the gauntlet with his cape. God of Thunder, right. 

Once his brain started working properly again, Steve cursed very loudly, punching the closest thing to him (it was a damaged spaceship and he barely felt it).

‘I thought it would bring them back.’, he turned to Tony. 

His eyes grew wide. ‘They didn’t die here. Maybe… Maybe they came back where they died. We have to check.’

They both turned to Thor, who was their ride, having opened the Bifrost with his axe.

‘Wakanda?’, he asked.

‘Vormir.’, Nebula said.

‘Titan.’, Tony added.

With a nod from Thor, Steve found himself enveloped in another flash of light. When he opened his eyes, his breath caught because of the beauty of the scenery he was seeing. They were on top of a stone mountain, and the warm toned planet glinted in what looked like a sunset. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and he wanted to watch it forever. 

He didn’t get to do that. Rocket and Nebula started yelling for Gamora, and as soon as they started, a hooded figure appeared from around a corner. It looked… ephemeral and dark and honestly, it looked like every visual representation of Death that Steve has ever seen.

The creature glided straight towards Thor, fast. But Steve was faster, getting between them and shoving one of his shields to the creature’s chest.

It stopped its advance, but it also got Steve very close to it. And once his eyes focused on the creature’s skull, a shiver ran through his spine.

‘You’re him.’, he breathed out. ‘Red Skull.’

‘I was.’, the creature answered icily, moving a step back. ‘I was the first to seek the Infinity Stones, and I have been serving my punishment by guarding the Soul Stone.’

‘How’s that working out for you?’, Steve couldn’t keep the hatred from his tone.

Honestly, Thor’s fingers pushed to his back were the only things keeping him from attacking.

The Skull dismissed him, moving to the side and staring Thor down.

‘We are not giving you the stone back!’, he was quick to say.

‘Guard it, then. Hide it, hide them all, in the deepest most forgotten place in the Universe.’

‘You don’t need to tell us that twice.’, Tony snorted.

The Skull shared a long look with Thor, before it pointed to what looked like a cave in the mountain. ‘She is there.’

Steve did not take his eyes away from it as Rocket and Nebula rushed to the cave. They came back quickly, with a woman with purple hair and green skin. It said something, about Steve, that he didn’t even bat an eye.

‘Where’s Quill?’, she was crying. ‘What happened?’

She looked between Thor and Nebula, before her eyes moved to everyone else.

‘Who the hell are you guys?’

‘Leave now.’, the Skull said. ‘There’s nothing else for you here.’

Thor immediately lifted his axe and once again, Steve found himself surrounded by light.

 

 

When he opened his eyes, he winced because this planet did not look as beautiful as the first. This was a wasteland.

A manly shrill of Gamora’s name was all the warning they got before a man ran at them, completely ignoring everyone else as he wrapped his arms around Gamora. That was probably Quill, Steve thought. 

When they started kissing passionately, Steve turned away, just in time to see Spider-Man hugging Tony. Surprisingly enough, the older man did not hesitate to hug him back. As Peter rested his cheek on Tony’s shoulder, he wrapped his arms tightly around the kid’s back, going as far as pushing his fingers into Peter’s hair.

‘You’re okay.’, Tony said strongly. ‘You’re okay.’

‘I died.’, the kid whispered shakily.

‘You did, but you’re back now, and Thanos is gone and everything is okay.’

Peter nodded at that. ‘I wanna go home, Mr. Stark. Eat a pot of Aunt May’s chicken soup.’

Over the kid’s hair, Tony and Steve locked eyes. There were more people around, well, aliens, Guardians that Steve didn’t recognize, but he could see that they were all shaken up. And, honestly, there were still a lot of people missing.

‘We have to go to Wakanda first.’, Steve made his way to Peter’s side, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

Yup, the kid was shaking.

‘Everyone else is there and honestly’, he looked around to the odd groop, ‘you should all get checked out.’

The man who was probably Doctor Strange opened his mouth to argue, but Bruce elbowed him in the stomach and he did not say anything.

‘What’s Wakanda?’, a very large blue man asked.

‘Wakanda is awesome!’, Rocket said enthusiastically. ‘Let’s go, Thor.’

Again, the God of Thunder said nothing, but he did raise his axe.

 

 

Steve barely opened his eyes before someone was calling his name, just like he did before he crumbled. He just opened his arms, before turning towards the voice he would recognize anywhere, steadying his legs. Bucky barreled strongly into him, he almost knocked Steve over, but he managed to keep himself upright. 

Bucky was shaking too, but unlike Peter, he wasn’t crying. He did not say anything either, just held Steve strongly, taking deep breaths.

T’Challa came to their side. Steve moved to let go of Bucky, but he wasn’t allowed, the other man tightening his hold. The king smiled, a little, so Steve didn’t feel too disrespectful.

‘Did everyone come back?’, he asked over Bucky’s head.

‘Yes, Shuri is working on Vision as our medics are checking over everyone else.’

‘Vision is back?’, Steve couldn’t keep the incredulity from his voice. He had died before Thanos snapped his fingers, he didn’t have the stone anymore.

T’Challa shook his head. ‘He’s not, but Shuri thinks she can do it, even without the stone.’

‘She’ll do it.’, Bucky mumbled. ‘She can do anything.’

The king rolled his eyes, but he also nodded. ‘I’ll take everyone else inside.’, he was curiously eying the large blue man and Nebula. 

He left, indeed taking everyone else with him, but Bucky did not let Steve move. It was clear that the man was shaken up, and Steve desperately needed to make him focus on something else.

‘How did Shuri react to T’Challa coming back?’

Bucky snorted. ‘It was bad. Big tears, gross snot, punches and slaps, a lot of yelling. Then she hugged him for a while, refusing to let go.’

‘Like you’re doing now?’, Steve couldn’t help but tease.

‘Shuri was here when T’Challa woke up. You weren’t.’

Steve sighed at that. ‘Sorry, Buck. We had to-’

‘Later. You’ll tell me later.’

‘I’ll tell you later.’, Steve nodded quickly. ‘But we should really go inside now. Get you checked out.’

Bucky nodded, finally releasing Steve. 

‘Did you broke a rib?’

Steve shrugged. ‘Three, maybe.’

Bucky winced, but he did start moving towards the palace, Steve following closely.

 

 

The med lab was a chaotic mess. Doctors were running around and yelling in a combination of English curse words and Xhosa that Steve didn’t understand. Vision, still in black and white, was laying on a table with Wanda holding his hand. Sam was getting stitches while bickering with Nat, Strange was glaring at the doctor attending him, Nebula was casually taking off one of her feet, Mantis was curiously looking at the nurse who was looking her over. The large blue guy was sitting very stiff as he was getting checked out, Rocket and Groot were sitting in a corner talking loudly, Gamora and Quill were holding hands in another corner, whispering with their faces very close. Tony was pacing, clearly talking with Pepper, Shuri was looking over T’Challa, yelling at him as the older man just smiled indulgently. 

Bucky elbowed Steve, pointing to the closest corner of the lab, where Peter Parker was leaning against the wall, staring blankly at his feet. His hands were shaking.

Steve approached him slowly, saying his name as gently as he could. Peter still startled.

‘Did anyone look you over yet?’

‘Not yet.’, the kid shook his head. ‘I’m fine, I heal fast.’

‘We’ll get someone to look you over.’, he said with authority. ‘Did you manage to call your aunt?’

Sadly shaking his head, Peter looked embarrassed. ‘They don’t have phones here.’

There was a snort from Steve’s side, Bucky looking very amused. He then yelled for Shuri, who was quick to come to their side and start babbling about Bucky’s arm.

He silenced her with a hand on the shoulder. ‘Peter here needs to make a phone call.’

Shuri, only now noticing Peter, blinked at him, at his suit, back at him. She raised an eyebrow.

‘I just want to call home, tell my aunt I’m alive.’, he tried and failed to make it sound light. ‘I’d text her, but my phone stopped working once I reached the stratosphere.’

Shuri’s eyes grew wide at that, but she didn’t say anything and Peter kept on babbling.

‘Although, with everything happening, the network’s probably down. I’m gonna have to call the landline.’

‘You still have a landline?’, Shuri sounded terribly incredulous.

Peter glared at her, a little. ‘Yes, for situations like this, when aliens attack the world and I need to tell the only family I have left that I’m still alive.’

His voice broke there, at the end, and Shuri softened, a little. She pulled out a phone from her back pocket and handed it to Peter.

As he called his aunt, the three of them gave him some privacy, moving a few feet away. Shuri started fussing over Bucky, and he started fussing over her, and they kept on bickering until Peter came back. He was crying, but he looked happy.

He gave Shuri her phone, thanked her a few times, then almost passed out in Steve’s arms.

‘I’m fine.’, was the first thing he said.

‘You don’t seem fine.’, Shuri placed a hand on his forehead. ‘Come on, let’s check you out.’

‘No, I’m fine, really, I can feel my body getting fine.’

‘What does that mean?’, Bucky pulled a face.

‘I call them spidey-senses.’, Peter blushed furiously. ‘All my senses are heightened now, but not just the normal ones, I can also sense… something bad happening.’ He looked away, ‘I knew I was dying before it happened.’

‘That’s horrible.’, Shuri said in a whisper.

‘I’m fine, really.’, Peter insisted. ‘Advanced healing, it should kick in soon enough.’

Shuri didn’t bother with words anymore, just grabbed his hand and dragged him to the closest medical table, where she ordered him to take off his suit.

‘It’s best to listen to her.’, Bucky pointed out.

Peter sighed, deeply. He frowned for a while, before pushing the emblem on his chest. The suit collapsed off his body, leaving him in… another Spider-Man suit.

Bucky choked on a laugh. 

‘What the hell?’, Shuri asked, incredulously.

‘I was wearing this suit’, he pointed to himself, ‘when I got to the spaceship and Mr. Stark called this new suit’, he pointed to the floor, ‘to catch me.’

‘Well take that off too!’, the young woman said in annoyance.

Once again, Peter pressed the emblem on his chest, and the second suit unclung from his body. He took it off with practiced movements, leaving Peter in jeans and a shirt.

‘Child.’, Shruti drawled out. ‘When a pretty Princess tells you to get naked, you get naked.’

Peter blushed, blinking rapidly at Shuri. ‘You’re a Princess?’

Shuri poked his chest. ‘And I order you to get naked.’

‘I’m not getting naked!’, Peter yelped loudly, getting the attention of a few of the people around.

‘Take your shirt off.’, Shuri glared at him, very strongly. ‘I need to put sensors on your skin.’

‘Oooooh!’, Peter’s eyes lit up. ‘That makes sense.’

He promptly took off his shirt, layed down on the bed and quickly started asking Shuri questions about what she was doing. She answered, sarcastically as hell, but she did answer.

Steve turned to Bucky, for the first time in a while, and was surprised to see the other man trying not to laugh.

‘They’re adorable.’, Bucky mouthed at Steve and yeah, they really were.

‘Come on.’, he grabbed Bucky’s shoulder. ‘Let’s have someone look you over.’

He grumbled about it, but he did spot his favorite doctor and went to her side.

 

 

Peter couldn’t sit still. 

He was on a Quinjet with the Avengers,  _ all the Avengers! _ , heading back home. Well, Thor wasn’t there. He was somewhere in space alongside the Guardians, finding a proper hidey hole for the Infinity Stones. Vision wasn’t there either, Shuri still working on bringing him back online.

But everyone else was there, cramped on the tiny Quinjet, heading towards New York. 

‘Oh, hey!’, he suddenly turned towards Bucky. ‘Aren’t you still wanted by the Government?’

Bucky threw him a look. ‘You’re just realizing this now?’

‘You know, I’ve had a lot on my mind.’, he rolled his eyes. ‘But seriously. Is going back to New York the best for you right now?’

He got a shrug. ‘We’re gonna tell the truth. Maybe this time they’ll listen.’

‘Well you did help save the world. Maybe that will soften then up.’

‘Maybe.’, Bucky didn’t look convinced. ‘If not, then we’ll run away again.’

Peter nodded. ‘Don’t say that out loud. Plausible deniability and all.’

That got him a scoff and a somewhat gentle elbow to the stomach.

‘You know’, Bucky said next in a very lowered voice, ‘Shuri’s gonna be in New York in a week or two. She’s gonna work on opening another Wakanda Outreach Center.’

‘Cool! Why did you tell me that?’

Bucky threw him a look that he couldn’t read. ‘No reason.’

 

 

Peter only understood it two weeks later.

They were two very long and hard weeks. As life got back to normal, classes and homework, dinner with May everytime she burned a new recipe, hanging out with Ned and sometimes MJ, Peter did not go back to normal.

He saw Thanos every night and it made sleeping very difficult. He was functioning, Peter was still doing well in school and Spider-Man was still keeping Queens safe every night, but it was getting harder and harder.

One unassuming Thursday, Peter found himself putting his suit in his backpack and getting on a subway heading out of Queens. He was only half aware of where he was going, but it didn’t stop him.

He only stopped to think when he got in front of an old brownstone, freshly renovated but still looking deserted. Peter knew he was in the right place, he read an article a few days ago.

After he knocked, he didn’t wait long for the door to be opened. It was weird, seeing a Dora Milaje wearing civilian clothes, and even if Peter hadn’t really met this woman in Wakanda, he knew she could probably easily kick his ass.

So he smiled, only mildly anxious. ‘Hi, I’m sorry to bother you. I’m Peter, Peter Parker.’

Her eyes grew wide at that, clearly recognizing his name. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘No, no, nothing, thank you.’, he quickly shook his head. ‘It’s just that I read an article, the other day, about how you guys were gonna open an Outreach Center here. And I .. I mean, I was just… Do you guys need help?’

The woman raised a very judgemental eyebrow.

‘Yeah, I realized that was stupid as I was saying it. Sorry. Still, is… Is Shuri here? Can I say hi?’

She smiled at that, winking at him before yelling for Shuri. Who yelped when her eyes landed on Peter.

She looked a little weird, Peter thought. Wearing modern clothes, like, terribly modern, he’s pretty sure he’s seen that shirt in a Hot Topic, with her braided hair up in Leia buns and wearing bright pink lipstick. 

‘You look nice.’, came out of his mouth, making Shuri scoff.

‘The hell are you doing here, Spider-Boy?’

He sighed. ‘I don’t know, really. Heard you were in town and I wanted to say hi. So… hi.’ 

He waved like the dumbass that he was. It made Shuri snort.

‘What’s wrong, Spider-Man?’, she came closer, leaning against the open door, no issue with crowding the other woman.

‘Nothing.’, Peter shook his head. ‘Really, nothing.’

‘You’re a terrible liar.’, the other woman said.

‘I’m getting better at it.’, he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling terribly embarrassed. Still, he couldn’t get the words out, couldn’t get his legs to move away.

‘I could go for some ice cream.’, Shuri said, turning to look at the other woman. ‘Nakia?’

‘Yes, we could use a break.’

Shuri clapped her hands, playfully wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders and stirred him away, down the street. As Nakia closed the door and fell in line with them, Shuri started talking excitedly about the small ice cream place they were going to.

Once there, Peter paid for their treats with only little argument from Shuri and they headed towards a nearby park, where they sat down in the grass. Peter offered his hoodie to Nakia, not wanting her to ruin her outfit.

‘So well raised.’, Shuri teased him.

Peter just nodded, because Aunt May did raise him right. He also politely asked about the King, finding out that Nakia was his girlfriend, and then he asked about the Outreach Center, easily falling into a conversation with Shuri, the other woman interrupting every now and then. Not once was Thanos or any of the Avengers mentioned.

He didn’t realize the passing of time, but two hours later, Nakia pointed out that they should head back.

‘Feeling better?’, Shuri asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Peter’s first instinct was to say that he was fine, but he didn’t. ‘A little, yeah. It’s been hard.’

‘I understand that.’, Shuri nodded, sympathetically. ‘What I don’t understand is why you came to me.’

‘Something Bucky said to me when we were flying back to New York.’

Shuri groaned at that, rolling her eyes. ‘That man, I swear. He meddles too much.’

‘Yeah? He doesn’t seem like the type.’

‘I know, right?’, she snorted. ‘He’s horrible.’

‘He cares.’, Nakia pointed out.

‘He’s still horrible.’

Peter knew that all the Avengers have spent the past weeks in a courtroom. The news was filled with shocking plot twists about what Bucky went through since he fell in the Alps, about Thanos and his demise. It wasn’t shocking to Peter, not really, but the fact that everyone was off the hook was.

Bucky, Cap and everyone else who were on the run before were free now, and the Government was kind of pointedly not mentioning anything about the Sokovia Accords.

‘He’s at the Avengers facility.’, Shuri told Peter. ‘They all are, but Steve and Bucky are looking into finding an apartment in Brooklyn.’

‘That’s cool. They deserve a little peace and quiet.’

‘We all do.’, Shuri smiled at him. ‘Spider-Man is allowed to take a break.’

He couldn’t help but grin at her. ‘I thought that’s what I was doing.’

Peter felt easier, on the subway on his way back home. He had Shuri’s number programmed in his phone, an open invitation to the Outreach Center and he felt the excitement of gaining a new friend. 

He slept a little easier that night. Just a little.

 

 

The next day, in the break between his third and fourth period, as Peter was getting his books out of his locker, he got called to the front desk for a phone call. 

He rushed there, Ned hot on his heels.

‘Tony Stark is on the phone for you.’, the secretary raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

‘Yeah, right.’, Flash snorted from the side, because of course he was there too.

With a deep sigh, Peter took the phone.

‘Mr. Stark?’

‘Hey, kid.’, came the prompt response.

Flash hit the speaker button, which of course prompted Peter to start trashing at him, but it was a hard thing to do while still holding the phone and trying to cut off the speaker. He was unsuccessful, because the secretary grabbed the phone and held it to her chest.

‘Sorry, Mr. Stark. I’m surrounded by idiots and you’re on speaker.’

A deep sigh came as a response. ‘Do you have to be so...  _ highschool _ ?’

‘I am in highschool.’, Peter deadpanned, ignoring Flash’s shocked expression. At least he wasn’t saying anything.

‘Anyway.’, Mr. Stark said pointedly. ‘Come over after school. We should really discuss you coming back on that internship.’

Was that coded talk for a mission? ‘After school?’, Peter asked.

‘Yeah, I’ll send a car.’

‘But-’

‘I’ll send a car. Now go and learn something.’

That strong order was followed by Mr. Stark hanging up.

‘It didn’t even sound like him!’, Flash laughed.

Peter rolled his eyes, grabbed Ned and went to class.

 

 

Mr. Stark did send a car. A large black SUV, which was fine, that wasn’t weird.

What was weird was the fact that Captain America and the Winter Soldier were wearing civilian clothes as they were casually leaning back against the car. Bucky was talking, waving his hands around, metal glinting in the sun, and Steve was listening closely with a smile on his face. Every single person in the courtyard was staring at them.

‘Dude.’, Ned said with feeling.

‘Yeah.’, Peter agreed.

MJ came to their side. ‘Huh.’, she said easily. ‘What are they doing here?’

‘Picking me up.’

‘Cool.’, she grabbed Ned. ‘Let’s go say hi.’

By the time Peter managed to get his legs moving, MJ and Ned had already introduced themselves.

‘When Mr. Stark said he was going to send a car…’, Peter frowned.

‘Oh, we were already in the neighborhood.’, Steve waved him off, unconvincingly. 

‘So, Peter.’, Bucky grinned at him. ‘Which one’s the asshole who didn’t believe you know Stark?’

‘No.’, he said quickly. ‘No, nuh-uh.’

Ned pointed to a corner of the parking lot, to the guy in question, who was leaning against his car, staring with his mouth open. ‘That’s Flash.’

Bucky hummed. Without turning his eyes away from Flash, he grinned. ‘Steve, we should take MJ and Ned home before delivering Peter to Stark.’

‘Sure.’, Cap responded quickly.

‘That’d be cool.’, Ned sounded a little breathless. 

‘Thanks.’, MJ said politely. 

Peter sighed, knowing there was no getting out of it.

Steve took their backpacks, putting them in the trunk, held the door open for MJ, smiled at Ned, who was waiting for Peter to get in first. In a whisper, Cap asked him if they knew about Spider-Man. He answered, and they both turned to look at Bucky, who was still staring at Flash.

‘Buck.’, Steve said gravely. ‘It would be in very poor taste to attack a highschool kid right after you got off the hook.’

‘I would never.’, came the really unconvincing response. ‘Hey, Flash!’, he raised his voice, making sure everyone in the courtyard was watching him.

Bucky then promptly raised his metal arm, middle finger up, grinning wildly at Flash. He then clapped Peter’s shoulder, for good measure, kind of shoving him in the car before getting in the passenger's seat.

‘Thanks for that.’, he grumbled once they were on their way. 

‘It’ll stop him from being a jerk.’, Bucky said proudly.

‘Probably not.’, MJ snorted. ‘But it will make him take it down a notch.’

Bucky frowned at that. 

‘I don’t remember our highschool years being so ridiculous.’, Steve said without taking his eyes off the road. 

‘They probably were’, MJ happily said, ‘but the issues were different because they were relevant for that time period.’

Peter stared at her. She was very casual, sprawling in the back seat, head against the headrest and elbow digging into Peter’s ribs. He could hear her pulse, nice and steady. It was a stark contrast to Ned, who was shaking by his side and staring with wide eyes at Cap and Bucky.

‘Stop staring.’, MJ said without even turning to look at him.

He did stop staring at her, locking eyes with Bucky, who was half turned in the passenger seat. His eyes skipped to MJ, then back to Peter. He grinned.

‘I like her, she’s a smart cookie.’

‘Yeah.’, Peter said weakly.

‘What about you, Ned?’, Bucky turned around even more. ‘What am I gonna like about you?’

Ned said nothing.

‘Hacking skills’, Peter piped up, ‘and his undying love and devotion to his best friend.’

Bucky raised an eyebrow.

‘A very good thing to have, that.’, Steve said around a grin, prompting the other man to punch his shoulder. 

As he snickered and stopped at a red light, Steve turned to look at them. ‘So how was school today, guys?’

‘Uneventful.’, Ned said quickly.

‘Boring.’, MJ yawned.

Peter shrugged. ‘Just like every day, Captain Rogers. Horrible and necessary.’

‘Is math just as horrible as it was 70 years ago?’, Bucky asked around a frown.

Three voices from the backseat answered in a chorus, a disgusted ‘yes’.

‘But you use math.’, MJ pushed her head forward between the seats, even if that meant she was half crawled in Peter’s lap.

‘I mean, you must use a lot of math and physics when you’re in sniper mode.’

Bucky froze, but only for a second. He looked to MJ as he answered, in a very controlled straight voice.

‘You’re right, I do use a lot of that. But I don’t do it consciously anymore, by this point.’

‘Because of the superserum?’, MJ asked curiously. ‘Did that enhance your mind’s capabilities, as well?’

‘No. Well, yes, it did, but I was a sniper before I got the serum. It just came easily for me.’ Bucky snorted. ‘Just that part of math, though. The other day I was trying to help Steve with the taxes and it was bad.’

‘I still don’t understand how you got a  _ pi _ in there.’, Steve snickered.

‘Captain Rogers’, MJ said super seriously, ‘you can hire someone to do your taxes now.’

Bucky laughed very loudly, as Steve glared, mildly, ahead of him.

‘MJ?’, Peter finally said, not being able to keep quiet anymore. ‘I can’t breathe.’

She seemed surprised by the fact that her elbow was pushing on his chest and that all of hair was in Peter’s nose. But she did settle back in the seat like a normal person.

‘Peter, you should text your aunt, let her know you’re gonna be late.’, Steve said.

He nodded, pulling out his phone and spending a few minutes texting back and forth with May, managing to assure her that nothing was wrong. He hoped it was true.

When he focused back on the people in the car, they were talking about Principal Morita and his grandfather, Steve and Bucky smiling fondly as they told stories of him.

It was a very surreal experience, and it only continued when they parked in front of MJ’s building and she all but dragged Peter out of the car, demanding he walk her out.

He did so, carrying her backpack politely. As they stopped in front of the door, MJ leveled him with a look.

‘One of these days, you’re gonna tell me how you managed to get so chummy with the Avengers.’

Peter bit back the instinct to panic. ‘The Stark internship.’

She just blinked at him. ‘I meant the real story.’

‘That’s the truth.’ It sounded lousy, even to his ears.

MJ sighed in seeming disappointment. ‘Are we friends?’

That took Peter by surprise, and he couldn’t control his reaction. It made her smile.

‘Figure that out first, will you?’

Then she rolled her eyes at him, called him a loser and went inside, slamming the door behind her with a loud bang. Peter sighed, deeply, before straightening his back and hurrying back to the car.

 

 

Steve felt only mildly ashamed for following MJ and Peter with his eyes. He wondered if she was going to kiss him. She didn’t, but whatever she said clearly made Peter falter.

Bucky was not as stealthy as Steve was.

He turned around to look at Ned. ‘Are those two together?’

Ned’s reaction was to laugh. ‘No, definitely not.’

‘Really?’, Bucky asked somewhat incredulously. ‘There’s gotta be something there.’

The kid just kept on laughing, shaking his head in mirth.

With a frown, Bucky let it drop, just as Peter got back in the car. He was quick to start talking.

‘What’s really happening? Is something attacking? You’re way too calm if something’s attacking.’

‘Can I help?’, Ned asked.

‘What-’

‘Calm down.’, Steve interrupted somewhat forcefully, fearing the kids will fall into a panic attack. ‘Nothing is happening, I promise. We just wanted to talk to you and figure out a training schedule.’

Peter’s jaw dropped. ‘Oh. T-Thank you, Captain Rogers.’

‘Don’t thank him yet.’, Bucky snorted. ‘It’s not gonna be fun.’

‘He can handle it.’, Ned said around a grin, going as far as slapping Peter’s shoulder a few times. 

It took awhile, but the kid did relax, slumping back in his seat.

‘Did you have other plans today?’, Steve thought of asking.

‘No, I just have an essay to proofread and I was gonna patrol later.’

Steve and Bucky shared a look.

‘How often do you patrol?’, Bucky asked.

‘Everyday.’

Steve swore, in his head. This kid should be worried about homework and prom dates, not about stopping murders and saving the world. He felt the urge to blame Stark, but Strange had told him about how Peter ended up on Thanos’ spaceship, and what he said to Tony, then. Tony didn’t have any blame, it was clear that Peter had made his own choice.

They dropped Ned off home without any fanfare, except for a long and confusing handshake he shared with Peter. 

On their way to the compound, Steve stopped at a McDonalds drive through. Bucky was the most excited about it. They both hated the food, argued endlessly that it tasted like cardboard, but they enjoyed the milkshakes, Bucky more than Steve.

So Steve got them all a milkshake, and a Happy Meal for Peter.

‘You know, Captain Rogers, it really pisses me off when you and Mr. Stark act like I’m a baby in diapers, but I’ll never say no to a Happy Meal. Plus’, the kid smirked, ‘there’s Avengers toys this week.’

There were, indeed, Avengers toys and to Steve’s horror, Peter got a Captain America one. 

‘I want that.’, Bucky said seriously, staring at the thing.

‘You can have it’, Peter snorted, ‘I have like 5 already.’

Bucky very gently took the tiny toy and after inspecting it, he was very careful as he put it in the chest pocket of his shirt. Steve couldn’t help but glare, even as his cheeks were kind of red.

Peter made quick work of the food, and when he was done, he spoke very gently.

‘Hey, Cap, I-I forgot to ask Shuri, is Vision back?’

‘Oh, you spoke to Shuri?’, Bucky grinned.

The kid glared at him. ‘Like she didn’t call you yesterday and yelled at you for not checking up on me.’

‘She didn’t call, she texted.’, Bucky frowned, making Peter roll his eyes.

‘He is back.’, Steve answered his question. ‘He doesn’t have the stone anymore, so he can’t do everything he could before. But he’s still… Vision.’

‘But without the laser beam in his forehead.’, Peter sighed.

‘And without the flying.’, Bucky nodded.

‘At least he’s alive. How… How are you guys holding up?’

‘We’re okay, Peter.’, Bucky smiled at him. ‘Especially now that the trial’s over.’

‘Congratulations on that. I’m glad you didn’t have to run again.’

‘There’s still a lot of stuff we have to do.’, Bucky frowned.

‘But it’s not so bad.’, Steve said for what felt like the billionth time. ‘You’re here and you’re free, we’ll handle the rest.’

Bucky rolled his eyes at him, before turning to Peter again.

‘So tell me about MJ.’

The kid frowned. ‘What about MJ?’

Bucky wiggled his eyebrows in response, making Peter pull a face even as he was blushing. They started bickering, then, and didn’t stop until they reached the Avengers compound. Steve wasn’t at all bothered by it.

 

 

Tony hugged Peter when he saw him, which surprised everyone. He didn’t stick around too long, though, just gave Peter the access codes for his new personal lab (that, of course, was called The SpideyLab), his bedroom and the phone number for the compound EA to arrange for a car to pick him up when needed.

Peter looked a little overwhelmed, so Steve and Bucky took him to the training room. Wanda and Sam were there.

Steve made the introductions, and Peter was very polite about it, as he always was. Wanda smiled wildly at him when Peter called her Miss, and Sam was quick to call him ‘Tiny’.

Peter glared and turned to Steve. ‘So are we training, or not?’

They did train, after Peter and Sam had a long conversation about the new Spider-Man suit. Honestly, Steve was impressed, just as he was the first time they fought. But Peter had evolved since then, and it wasn’t just the new suit.

He was a good fighter, ridiculously fluid and very quick on his feet and in the air. Peter spent as much time up in the rafters as he spent on the floor. Sure, both Wanda and Sam got the better of him, but the kid put up a good fight.

Steve got him down quicker, but he was still impressed.

‘There’s work to be done’, he told Peter, ‘but you’re real good to start with.’

‘Thank you, Sir.’

‘You’re also adorable, Tiny.’, Wanda ruffled his hair.

Around his blush, Peter grinned at her. ‘Thanks, babe, you’re adorable too.’

Bucky started laughing really loudly in the other part of the room, and Sam did so too, clearly impressed with Peter’s ability to render Wanda speechless. 

‘I like you, Peter!’, Bucky yelled. ‘Welcome to the club!’

Steve didn’t say it out loud, but he was on Bucky’s side. Still, he offered to drive Peter home.

 

 

Peter was quick to make a place for himself in the Avengers compound. 

The door to his bedroom was always open, even if he was sleeping in it, and as the days passed, it got messier and messier. It kept reminding Steve that Peter was still a teenage boy.

Because that was an easy thing to forget, when you saw Peter working on five different things in his lab, or when you saw him fighting every willing Avenger head on.

Steve was in charge of his training, but everyone else wanted to help. That probably happened because everyone loved Peter, which was understandable.

The kid really was amazing, not just in his fighting skills, but in personality, as well. He could easily keep up with Bucky and Sam’s teasing, he harmlessly flirted with Wanda everytime she started it, laughed brightly when Nat cursed at him in Russian, listened patiently when Bruce went on and on about this project or another, all the while calling them  _ sir _ and  _ miss _ . 

It was very easy to forget that this kid was 15 and had homework to do, that this kid was 15 and had lost too much already, that this kid was 15 and fighting on the streets of Queens every night.

Still, Steve kept his head on straight. He trained Peter two times a week, tried to get him to leave his lab for the night but let his aunt know when he crashed at the compound.

He even let him skip a training or two when Peter complained about homework or an upcoming test. Those were the times Bucky called him a softie. It was true, so Steve didn’t argue against it.

 

 

They’ve been in town, looking at apartments, so Steve and Bucky picked up Peter from school on one of the scheduled training days, about two months after Thanos.

Peter was furious about something, but no matter how much Bucky tried to coax it out of him, he didn’t say what was wrong. He was distracted during training, and after a couple of failed attempts, Steve called it quits.

‘Either you tell me what’s wrong, or you go home.’

‘I’m fine.’, was the quick response.

‘Then go home.’, Steve rolled his eyes.

Bucky, who had been watching from the sidelines, choose that moment to come close to them.

‘Don’t go home. Sit down and tell us what’s wrong.’

It took awhile, but Peter did sit down, right there in the middle of the training mats, and the two men were quick to join him. 

‘I screwed up.’, he started in a lowered voice, making Steve and Bucky share a disbelieving look.

‘MJ found out about me… about Spider-Man.’

Steve was relieved, because that didn’t sound horrible. Still, it was clear that it really affected Peter.

‘Is she mad that you didn’t tell her sooner?’, Bucky asked.

Peter shook his head. ‘I didn’t tell her now, either. I just… saved her from a slimy rapist and like an idiot, I called her name during the fight.’

‘You saved her from-’

Peter cut Steve off. ‘The fucker’s in prison already and she’s fine, he didn’t get to hurt her.’

Steve didn’t acknowledge the curse word because it was fitting.

‘So what’s the problem, then?’, Bucky prompted.

‘She wants to know what happened. How I got my powers, what happened with Vulture and with Thanos. And I… I don’t talk about that. Only Aunt May knows, but she wrestled it out of me.’

‘I understand the need for secrecy.’, Steve said slowly. ‘But MJ and Ned are your friends.’

‘Why don’t you wanna tell them?’, Bucky asked.

‘It’s not a good story.’, Peter said strongly, not looking at either of them. ‘None of them are, they’re… Honestly, they’re more horrible than anything they’ve ever been through.’

‘Don’t underestimate your friends’ capability to understand-’

‘That’s bullshit.’, Bucky cut Steve off. ‘And you know it.’

Peter hesitated, but did look up at Bucky. ‘They’re horrible stories and they’re going to look at me very differently after they know them.’

Steve cursed, in his mind, and judging by the look Bucky gave him, so did he.

‘I understand that.’, Bucky said slowly. ‘Perfectly.’

It was the bane of Steve’s life, now. Convincing Bucky that no matter what he said, no matter how horrific the memories of the Winter Soldier he had, there was nothing that will make Steve treat him any differently. 

‘If they’re your friends and they love you as much as they should’, Steve said gently, ‘whatever story you tell them will only make them love you more.’

Peter shook his head.

‘You need to talk to someone.’, Bucky said next. ‘Keeping everything inside means letting it rot, and that’s not okay. It’s hard, I know it is, trust me’, he widened his eyes, ‘but it’s also worth it. We’d listen, but you’re probably reluctant to talk with the super hot grandpas or the band of ridiculous superheroes.’

‘Understandable.’, Steve nodded, unperturbed. ‘But I’m sure your aunt is more than willing to listen.’

‘And if that’s too awkward’, Bucky went on, ‘as discussions with older women who changed your diapers tend to be…’

Peter snorted at that, weakly, but he did look to Bucky.

‘Then talk to Shuri. She was there, at least for Thanos, and even if she won’t understand everything, she’ll understand some of it. She’ll understand you.’, Bucky smiled. ‘Shuri’s very good at that.’

‘You’re meddling.’, Peter told him after a beat. ‘She said you do that.’

Steve bit back a snort at the affronted expression on Bucky’s face. But after Peter left, he leveled Buck with a look.

‘I know, I know.’, he grumbled. ‘It’s easier said than done.’

‘Well, yeah, but you can’t expect Peter to be able to do something that you can’t.’

Bucky tilted his head. ‘He can stick himself to the ceiling. I can’t do that.’

Steve glared. 

‘I hear you.’, Bucky sighed, looking away. ‘I’m trying.’

‘I know you are.’, Steve was quick to grab Bucky’s shoulder.

It was true. Since they started living in the same space and spending a lot of time together, as much as they could, Bucky did talk a lot. He told Steve things, be it from when they were growing up, from the war or from his time with Hydra. It was hard for him to do so, but he was trying. Still, Steve figured out that he wasn’t saying everything. There were little tales in Bucky, a twitch of the hand, a tilt to the head, but Steve knew when he was holding something back. 

‘I like the kid.’, Bucky said in a lowered voice. ‘He’s good people.’

‘He is.’, there was no hesitation on Steve’s part.

‘I just wish he wasn’t in the middle of all this.’

‘There’s nothing we can do about that. He wants so be here. So all we can do is protect him.’

‘And maybe push him to make a move on MJ.’

Bucky said it with a spark in his eyes and with a smirk on his lips. Steve rolled his eyes, because if there was one thing that will never change about Bucky, it was his freaky enjoyment in meddling.

 

 

Peter didn’t say anything on the topic for the next few weeks, but then he showed up with MJ to the compound, on a day when he didn’t have a training session scheduled.

‘I’m sorry, Steve.’, the kid looked panicky. ‘But we have a science project to do and it’s a really good idea, but we need the lab and I-’

‘Calm down.’, Steve couldn’t help but smile. ‘Does this mean…’, he tilted his head.

Peter instantly blushed.

‘I know he’s Spider-Man.’, MJ piped up around a grin. ‘If that’s what you’re asking.’

Steve smiled at her. ‘Good. Welcome to the compound. Don’t touch anything if you don’t know what it does, if there’s an alarm, stay calm and out of our way and, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Everything you see here is very much a big secret.’

‘No problem, Cap.’, she nodded along. ‘I get it, it’s no problem.’

‘Good, thank you.’, he turned back to Peter. ‘Should I expect any explosions today?’

‘What?’, he yelped. ‘No, of course not.’

‘Happens more often than you think.’, Steve pointed out, mind going back to last Tuesday night when they all got woken up at 3AM because Tony was trying to make a functional lightsaber.

‘We’ll behave, Cap.’, MJ winked at him. 

It was the wink that made Steve be mildly alarmed. Still, he let the kids head to the lab, both of them talking excitedly.

 

 

Steve was sneaky about it, but he kept an eye on them. He found reasons to make his way down the hallway and took advantage of the glass walls of the lab to see what the kids were doing. And when walking the hallway for the fourth time would have been too obvious, he checked the security footage.

The kids were working hard. On either sides of a table, their laptops open, books and notebooks scattered on the workspace, MJ and Peter were obviously completely immersed in their work.

‘We should get them some food.’, Bucky said over his shoulder.

Steve waited to be teased about spying on the kids, but it didn’t come. So he nodded and helped Bucky make sandwiches, grabbed some cookies and fruit too. The kids were very grateful for the food, thanked them a billion times, with their mouths full. 

It was endearing. Bucky had hearts in his eyes as they left the lab.

 

 

A couple of hours later, as the sun wasn’t out anymore and night was settling in, Steve was doing paperwork in his office when Peter knocked on the door.

He seemed awkward, but managed to ask what he wanted.

‘Is it okay if MJ and I sleep here? We wanna get some more work done.’

‘I don’t know if there are any guest rooms.’, was the first thing Steve thought of.

‘That’s fine.’, Peter snorted. ‘We don’t plan on actually sleeping, we got a good work flow going.’

Steve thought of denying them, but they were doing homework. He pictured the wrath Tony would rain on him if he stopped the kids in their pursuit for knowledge, and he pictured how Bucky would yell at him for stopping the kids’ party.

‘I’m not going to insult you by giving you the  _ no means no _ speech, but know that I've considered it.’

Peter looked a little pale.

‘It’s your lab, Peter.’, Steve smiled. ‘You can do whatever you want.’

‘T-Thanks.’, the kid mumbled, all but running out of the office.

‘Hey, one more thing.’, Steve stopped him. ‘I’m not your captain.’

Peter’s eyes grew wide at that, but Steve went on. It was something that was bugging him since they started training, but honestly, he just realised it now.

‘I am your superior when it comes to the Avengers, in the sense that when we’re out there on a mission, I expect you to follow my orders. But outside of that…’, he shrugged. ‘Kid, you really don’t need my permission to have your girlfriend sleep over.’

‘She's not my girlfriend!’, Peter screeched.

‘Not the point of this conversation.’, Steve pointed out.

‘Captain America wants to be my friend?’, he finally managed to say in a very disbelieving voice.

Steve snorted. ‘No, Steve Rogers wants to be your friend. Bucky too, for that matter. We’ve kinda imprinted on you.’

‘But why?’

‘Cause you’re fun.’, Bucky materialized in the doorway, startling Peter. ‘And you’re way too young to be a superhero, Steve and I both want to lock you up in a tower to keep you safe, but that’s called kidnapping, so we won’t do that.’

‘What the fuck, Bucky?’, Peter whispered, clearly disturbed.

‘Anyway.’, Steve grabbed his attention again. ‘As long as her folks don’t report her missing, of course MJ can sleep here. But please remember to get some food in you.’

‘And drink some water besides the coffee.’, Bucky helpfully supplied. 

‘You guys don’t need to adopt me.’, Peter said after a beat.

Of course, both of them glared at him. But Bucky also took out a condom from his back pocket and, to Steve’s horror, pushed it into Peter’s hand.

‘We’re not adopting you, clearly.’, Bucky snorted and all but pushed Peter out of the room.

‘I can’t believe you did that.’, Steve groaned. ‘What the hell were you thinking?’

‘I was planting the seed.’, Bucky sounded evil. ‘He’s not gonna use the condom, d’uh, but he’s gonna know it’s in his pocket and he’s gonna think of it any time he’s alone with MJ.’

Steve sighed, deeply. ‘I know I should be stopping you.’

‘But you’re not gonna?’

He shook his head. ‘It’s nice to see you this excited about something.’

Bucky’s face fell at that, but he took a deep breath and smiled a little.

‘Plus’, Steve went on, ‘as soon as MJ figures out what you’re doing, she’s gonna wipe the floor with you.’

‘I have a metal arm!’

‘And she’s a teenage girl living in the age of a revamped women empowerment movement. If MJ gets angry with you, you’re gonna be weak.’

It took a few seconds of Bucky looking affronted, before his face fell in understandment. 

‘You’re right, but I won’t mind it. Why is that?’

Steve snorted. ‘Cause you like MJ.’

‘Yeah.’, Bucky sighed. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ He took a deep breath. ‘You going to bed anytime soon?’

Steve pointedly closed off his laptop, just as he got a text from May, asking him to make sure the kids got to school on time.

 

 

As it often happened, Steve woke up five hours later for no reason. On his way to the kitchen he noticed that the SpideyLab was empty, so after he drank a glass of milk, he made a detour to Peter’s room.

The door was open, as usual. MJ was sleeping on the bed, in her jeans and one of Peter’s shirts, while he was sleeping on the floor, wearing pajamas. They were facing each other.

Steve resisted the urge to have Friday take a picture. Instead, he went to the hallway cabinet and got blankets. He covered MJ first and then Peter, but when be looked up, her eyes were open.

‘Go back to sleep.’, he whispered, smiling softly.

She nodded, yawned, mumbled a thank you before closing her eyes.

As Steve shut the door behind himself, he thought that Bucky would have loved to see it.

 

 

They came back the next day after school, but this time, MJ brought pajamas and a change of clothes for the morning. Peter didn’t ask for permission, just informed Steve of their plans. It was an improvement.

Steve didn’t spy on them as much as the day before, even if he had a feeling Bucky did. But once dinner time came around, he dragged them out of the lab and to the common kitchen.

Bucky and Wanda were already there, and Vision and Bruce arrived soon enough, all of them descending on the large number of Chinese takeout boxes on the table. Nat was visiting Clint, Sam was having dinner with his family and Rhodes went home, so it was just them for the night. 

The kids looked a little overwhelmed, MJ more than Peter. He, at least, had met everyone before. So Steve made the introductions.

Vision asked what project they were working on, and as Peter answered, Bruce was quick to join the conversation. MJ wasn’t saying anything, blindly putting food in her mouth, eyes skipping rapidly from one person to another, but always coming back to Peter.

‘So, MJ’, Wanda grinned, ‘do you want to swap embarrassing stories about Peter?’

That got her talking, much to Peter’s despair. They were all laughing, at the end of the story, but then the kid defended himself by saying that he had stopped a human trafficking operation the night before.

MJ got quiet again after that, but she also pushed her shoulder to Peter’s. Steve didn’t need to turn to see the sleek look Bucky was giving him. Of course, he was the one to speak next.

‘Just how jealous is Ned of you right now?’

Their faces were pretty funny. Peter was utterly confused, while MJ’s eyes were very wide.

‘Who’s Ned?’, Wanda asked with interest.

‘Peter’s other best friend.’, Bucky explained around a grin. ‘He’s a bigger nerd that Peter is, there were hearts in his eyes when he met us. So he must be super jealous of you, right?’, he turned back to MJ. ‘You get to hang out with the coolest Avengers.’

‘We’re the coolest Avengers?’, Bruce asked with a high level of scepticism.

‘I meant me and Wanda.’

Bruce rolled his eyes, as Wanda grinned. All the while, the kids expressions hadn’t changed, but Bucky was clearly expecting an answer.

‘Yeah, he’d probably be angry.’, Peter finally said. ‘But we haven’t really told him where we’ve been working.’

Bucky’s grin looked downright evil. Before he got to say anything, Wanda sighed, happily so, snuggling up to Vision.

‘There’s nothing quite as sweet as highschool drama.’

‘No.’, MJ and Peter said at the same time.

But then, at Wanda and Bruce’s insistence, they started telling ridiculous stories about their school mates. Really ridiculous stories, that Steve had a hard time believing were true, even if he knew they were.

MJ relaxed through it, getting chummy with Wanda and laughing really loudly at every bad joke Bruce made. Bucky still had hearts in his eyes, and they got extra sparkly when the kids left and Peter gently guided MJ with a hand on her back.

 

 

Steve was still a worrier, at heart, so when he woke up in the middle of the night, he went to check on the kids. Bucky was already there, leaning against the open door.

MJ and Peter were both in bed this time, sleeping on different sides of it, with their books and laptops between them. She was wrapped up in a blanket, Peter was wearing a hoodie front side back. Her hand was wrapped around his ankle. 

As they gently closed the door, Bucky rounded to Steve with big eyes.

‘I know.’, Steve stopped him from talking. ‘I get what you’re saying, I do, it’s obvious. But they’re kids, let them be kids. Let them be awkward teenagers about it.’ 

‘I was just gonna say that I really want to move in with you. Really live with you, in the same apartment, not in a room across the hallway.’

Steve faltered at that. He wanted that too, but…

‘You saw the kids sharing a bed and that’s where your brain went?’

Inexplicably, Bucky blushed, which was a sight Steve hadn’t seen in a very,  _ very  _ long time. It kind of took his breath away. That wasn’t inexplicable, Bucky always took his breath away. 

So Steve hugged Bucky. ‘We should actually hire a real estate agent.’

‘Is that something people do?’, Bucky mumbled against his shoulder.

‘It sure is. Don’t you just love this day and age?’

Bucky snorted, wishing him a less blushing good night.

 

 

He took Bucky’s advice, but he didn’t talk to Shuri. It took awhile for him to gather the courage needed, but one evening, Peter did sit Ned down and told him everything. And as Steve and Bucky said, Ned didn’t look at him in a bad way. Instead, he looked proud and the hug he gave Peter was extra tight. 

Because of that emotional rollercoaster, Peter turned into an idiot and he let it slip that him and MJ had done their science project at his lab. But Ned didn’t have the expected reaction, he didn’t get angry and scream Peter’s betrayal.

Instead, Ned stared at Peter with a shocked look for a few beats, before his expression turned into one of understanding. He also bounced excitedly in his chair.

‘Dude.’, he said with feeling.

‘Sorry?’ Peter didn’t really understand what was happening.

‘Bucky was right. I can’t believe Bucky was right.’

‘Uh…’

‘You and MJ!’, Ned exclaimed.

‘What about me and MJ?’

‘You totally have a thing!’

‘Yeah, a friend… thing.’

Ned rolled his eyes. ‘More than a friend thing.’

‘No!’, Peter was pretty adamant, shaking his head for good measure.

‘Yes.’

‘No.’

‘Yes.’

‘No.’

‘Dude.’, Ned snorted. ‘This is me you’re talking to! You can tell me anything.’

‘There’s nothing to tell!’, Peter’s voice was way too loud and honestly, his heart was beating too fast. Which was ridiculous.

Ned narrowed his eyes. ‘You’re in denial.’

‘No.’ It was just a word, but Peter’s voice wavered.

‘You’re totally in denial.’, Ned grinned.

‘I’m not.’

‘You are, but it’s fine. Cause now you’re gonna start thinking about it and you’ll realize I’m right.’

That was a terrifying thought. Absolutely terrifying. The terror must have shown on his face, because Ned started snickering. 

Of course, that was the moment May came into the room, looking at them with a frown.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Peter just realised he has a crush on MJ.’, Ned grinned.

‘Oh thank god.’, May said with feeling, a hand to her chest. ‘I really was started to think you’ll never figure it out.’

Ned laughed really hard at that, which was really horrible of him, considering Peter was not only blushing furiously, but he was probably having a heart attack.

Probably. The way his heart was headbanding along to a heavy metal song was a good indication of a heart attack.

‘Oh, honey.’, May said gently, running her fingers through his hair.

‘Calm down, dude.’, Ned’s voice was subdued, too. ‘It’s fine, I’m pretty sure she feels the same.’

‘I don’t feel anything.’, Peter lied. ‘Could you please go home now?’, he asked Ned. ‘I’ve got to go on patrol.’

Ned left quickly, mumbling a half-assed apology, and May leveled him with a look.

‘Don’t do anything stupid.’

‘I won’t.’, Peter assured her.

What kind of stupid could he do when he was patrolling?

 

 

Peter stopped a bank robbery and three drug exchanges without being stupid. 

So, of course, then he did the stupidest thing in the world. He scaled MJ’s apartment building and knocked on her bedroom window.

To be fair, the light was on, even if it was past midnight. She had the curtains drawn so he couldn’t see inside, but she heard her moving around.

‘No, nope.’, MJ mumbed from inside. ‘You’re hearing things.’

Peter couldn’t help but smile. He knocked again, more firmly.

‘Yup, that’s definitely how black people get killed in horror films.’ Even as she said it, MJ made her way to the window. She still didn’t open it which, honestly, was the smart thing to do.

Peter got his phone and texted her.  _ I promise I won’t kill you _ .

MJ yelped after she read it and hurried to open her window. ‘What the hell are you doing? Are you hurt?’

She helped him get inside of her room. He accepted the help, even if he didn't need it. So he was grinning when he took off his mask.

‘I’m not hurt, I was just in the neighbourhood.’

MJ kicked at his shoulder, breathing heavily. ‘You scared the living shit out of me.’

‘Sorry.’, he managed to sound kind of apologetic.

She cursed at him again, jumping on her bed and leaning against the headboard. After he was able to look away from the shirt she was wearing (which was his, he lent it to her on her first night at the Avengers compound and she hadn’t returned it yet), Peter looked around the room, curiously. It was exactly like he expected. Muted colors, books piled on every available surface, clothes thrown on the floor. There were pictures scattered around, mostly of MJ and her family at various ages, but Peter saw himself and Ned a few times. 

There was only one thing that seemed out of place, and that was a poster pinned to her door. It was an old picture, a very old picture, of Steve and Bucky in their Howling Commandos days. They were laughing about something, looking at each other with similar expressions that usually made MJ call them dufuses. 

‘Are you done judging me?’, her voice was harsh, but Peter could sense the nervousness underneath.

‘I’m not gonna judge you on how your bedroom looks.’, he made his way to the bed and sat down on it only after she nodded. ‘It’s exactly how I pictured it being.’

‘Oh, so I’m predictable?’, she raised her eyebrows.

‘Just a little. The Cap and Bucky poster threw me off, though.’

‘If you tell them about it, I’m going to murder you.’

‘I know you will. Your secret’s safe with me.’

MJ snorted, before looking away from him, to the poster. ‘You know how little girls grow up on fairy tales and stories about the Princess ending up with Prince Charming?’

He didn’t look away from her, not for a second.

‘Well, that was me too, up to a point. Then I learned how to read and I found one of Dad’s history books. I must have read the chapter on the Howling Commandos a thousand times. I thought, and I still do, really’, she blushed, ‘that Steve and Bucky’s friendship is one of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever read.’

‘Beautiful?’, Peter frowned. ‘It’s… sad. Even if you don’t count what happened since Steve got out of the ice, it’s still…’

‘Yeah.’, MJ looked to him. ‘It is sad. But if you think about it, it’s beautiful too. Steve, becoming Captain America in order to save Bucky. Bucky, following Steve into the war immediately after escaping torture. Fighting side by side, always after that. That part’s beautiful. That’s what I loved the most.’

Peter tilted his head. He never thought of it like that, but MJ was right. During the past few months, since he started training, he had spent some time with Steve and Bucky and, as MJ said, the two of them together was quite a beautiful thing. The fact that they were able to be side by side, still, after everything that happened, that was incredible. 

‘Hey, loser.’, she poked his thigh with her toe. ‘What are you doing here?’

He faltered at that, a little, but she was watching him with a soft look, not at all teasing, but curious. 

‘I just uh… I’ve been thinking about some stuff and I needed to clear my head.’

‘And you did that by jumping from roof to roof on what is a 45 minute drive from your place to mine?’

‘Yeah. It’s pretty embarrassing, huh?’

‘Like most things you do.’, came the easy response. But she smiled after, poking his thigh again. ‘You wanna tell me what this is about?’

He took a deep breath. ‘I know you toned it down, after our fight. You didn’t ask me to tell you what happened anymore, and I’m grateful for it.’

‘But?’

‘But Steve and Bucky said something that changed my mind, so I told Ned today. And it wasn’t as awful as I thought it would be. It’s hard for me, to talk about it, but… I would like to tell you.’

The smile she gave him was slow in evolution, but that didn’t take from the way it blinded him. 

‘I’d very much like to hear it. But not tonight.’

He frowned at that, tensing. 

‘By the look in your eyes, I think you’ve had enough  _ emotions _ for tonight.’

‘That’s probably right.’, Peter slumped.

‘Tell you what. You have training tomorrow, right?’

Peter nodded.

‘It’s a friday, and my parents are leaving for the weekend. Think May would let you sleep over?’

His heart started beating wildly at that, but he did nod. ‘Yeah, yeah probably.’

‘So bring your PJs and snacks. Ned too, if he doesn’t mind reruns. And I’ll… listen.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, okay. Thanks.’, he managed to smile at her.

‘Okay, loser. Now get out of here and go sleep. It is a school night.’

He was quick to put on his mask and head to the window.

‘Peter?’, she didn’t get up from the bed. ‘First time’s free, but next time you wanna climb into my tower, you better get me some frozen yogurt or something.’

Next time? 

‘Sure.’, he smiled, even if she couldn’t see it.

He lingered for a second longer, watching the way MJ was looking at his suit, realizing that it was the first time she saw it up close. With a shaky breath, he climbed out of her window, shutting it behind him. He scaled down the building and once his legs were on the ground, he hit his head on the wall several times.

Because he was an idiot, and Ned was right. He was crushing on MJ, and he was crushing hard.

 

 

Training on friday went well, but in sight of Steve wanting to be Peter’s friend, he lingered before leaving.

‘I told Ned.’

‘Told him what?’

‘Everything.’

‘And? How did it go?’

‘Better than I expected.’, Peter blushed a little. ‘He was proud and he hugged me extra tight.’

Steve smiled widely at that. ‘Good. That’s good, Peter. What about MJ?’

‘Ned and I are sleeping over tonight. I’ll tell her then.’

He was very nervous about it, especially after his revelation. Steve saw it, clearly, because he grabbed Peter’s shoulder and forced him to look up.

‘I have a feeling it’s gonna go okay. And that it’s gonna be good for you.’

‘I’m scared.’, Peter admitted. ‘Not about what she’ll think, not anymore. But… Knowing about me, it puts them in danger. What if-’

‘Don’t go there.’, Steve cut him off strongly. ‘I know what you’re thinking, but don’t. What we do, what we chose to do, it’s the hardest thing in the world. You shouldn’t have this weight on your shoulders, but I know now there’s no way you’re walking away from it.’

Peter shook his head, because Steve was right.

‘You can’t think of what ifs. What we do, saving the world, we do it for them. For the millions of faceless people that can’t protect themselves, but most of all, for the people that we love. Yes, the fact that your friends and family know about Spider-Man is dangerous. But they also have Spider-Man on speed dial. And you’ve proven before, that you’re strong enough to save them.’

‘What if I’m not?’, Peter couldn’t help but ask.

Steve smirked. ‘Then you have Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Iron Man and the Scarlet Witch on speed dial.’

He huffed out a laugh. ‘The Hulk, too.’

‘Game changer.’, Steve smirked. ‘You’re all set.’

Cap’s easy smile didn’t exactly make Peter’s anxiety go away, but it did make him rush through showring.

 

 

Ned was already at MJ’s place, both of them in pajamas, watching Buffy in the living room. After Peter changed, they ordered pizza and talked about nothing important for the next four episodes.

But Peter kept getting more and more anxious, to the point where he was watching MJ more than the tv and his right leg wouldn’t stop shaking.

‘If you guys wanna go talk somewhere’, Ned said very loudly, ‘I can entertain myself.’

Wordlessly, MJ grabbed his hand and a blanket off the back of the couch and, to Peter’s surprise, she led him out of the apartment, to the roof.

There were a few garden chairs there, and MJ made herself comfortable by bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping herself in the blanket.

Peter dragged a chair and sat in front of her. The sun was just starting to set, painting the sky in purple and orange.

‘If you don’t want to do this, I won’t mind.’ Her voice was very gentle, he had never heard her talk like that.

‘I do want to tell you, but-’

‘Look, I get it. We haven’t been friends for that long and-’

‘It’s not that. You and Ned are my best friends.’

MJ blushed a little, but she also straightened her back. ‘Right, but you’ve known Ned longer and-’

‘And that’s why I told him first. I’m going to tell you, MJ, I  _ want  _ to tell you, but it’s hard for me.’

‘Take your time, then. And I promise I won’t interrupt, so it’s gonna be hard for me too.’

She was smiling playfully at him, wearing his shirt, again, with her hair piled messily on top of her head. She looked very beautiful, and Peter couldn’t look at her anymore.

So he looked to the side, to the sun setting over New York, as he took a deep breath and started talking.

He told her everything. Just like he told Ned before, and like he told May, he told MJ everything. How he got his powers, how he got the suit from Mr. Stark, how his prom date’s dad tried to bury him under a building, how he fought half of the Avengers in Germany, how he ended up on Thanos’ spaceship.

How he died. How it felt.

How he came back to life. How it felt.

He never once managed to look at MJ and she did not say a word.

By the end of it, the night had completely settled around them and Peter’s throat felt raw.

When he managed to turn his head and look at her, he did a double take. MJ had no emotions on her face, she looked as bored and uninterested as she looked during chemistry class.

‘What?’, she raised an eyebrow. ‘Did you expect me to cry?’

‘No, I-’

‘Did you expect me to hate you?’

Peter shut his mouth with a loud snap.

‘You’re really an idiot, then.’, she snorted. ‘You’re also the strongest person I know.’

‘You know Cap.’, he pointed out even if his cheeks felt flushed.

‘Cap wasn’t doing this when he was 16. He wasn’t juggling homework with… everything else.’

Her voice faltered, then, and Peter realized that she was trying to hide her real reaction. Without thinking, he grabbed a hold of her hand, frowning at her but not saying anything. Either way, she understood it.

‘Whatever you do as Spider-Man, it won’t make me think any differently of you. Do you know why?’

He shook his head.

‘Because even though I’ve suspected this since DC last year…’

She threw him a superior look at that, that had him flailing.

‘I met Peter Parker first.’, MJ grinned. ‘And that’s the idiot I wanted to be friends with. The dork who build computers from junk in his spare time, not the superhero with a great ass, according to Casey Lockwood.’

The sound Peter made was horrified (because Casey was the most popular girl in school), and it made MJ laugh, even as she held his hand more firmly in hers.

‘Thank you for telling me. I’m very grateful to know the truth about Spider-Man. But, honestly…’ She bit on her lip before continuing. ‘I’m really fucking happy I get to call that loser Peter my friend.’

In a rush, Peter got off the chair and dragged her up as well, gathering MJ into his arms and squishing her against his chest. She was very squishy, and she was sputtering indignantly. He didn’t let go and eventually, MJ wrapped her arms around his back.

‘Thank you.’, he whispered against her hair.

‘Just get it in your head, that I’m here for you. Anything you need, Ned and I both.’

‘I’m gonna hold you up to that.’

There was silence for three more seconds.

‘Peter, this is too long of a hug, it’s getting awkward.’

He sighed, because really, what else did he expect?

 

 

‘Buck, this is terrible use of our resources.’

‘It’s just a tiny drone.’

Steve sighed. ‘And it’s an awful invasion of privacy.’

‘Shhhhh, look, he grabbed her hand!’

‘Why are you shushing me, you don’t have audio!’

‘And who’s fault is that?’, Bucky glared at him. ‘You couldn’t have told me what Peter told you sooner?’

He turned back to the monitor soon enough, where MJ and Peter were now hugging.

God, Steve really hoped those kids will sort themselves out soon enough, because Bucky was going to drive him crazy.

 

 

Over the next few weeks, Peter managed to keep his crush in check. He didn’t accidentally tell MJ about it, he didn’t act like an idiot with her (no more than usual, anyway), not much changed. But he did feel closer to her, and Ned too. Somehow, coming clean to them strengthened their bond, and Peter was very glad for it.

Especially because he didn’t need to come up with excuses anymore. He could tell MJ that he had to meet Steve for training, or that he needed to go to the compound and make more web fluid. He could tell Ned that he looked like shit because he had nightmares all night. He could use their groupchat to send pictures of Bucky on the floor with Natasha pinning him down, of Wanda casually levitating over a coffee table, of Mr. Stark asleep in Bruce’s lab. 

It was great, Peter was feeling better than he had in a long time.

School was still school, and stress was running high because they, once again, made it to the nationals with the Decathlon team. MJ was taking her role as captain very seriously. Nobody ever missed a practice and whenever they had a spare moment, she would pull out her cards and practice with Peter and Ned. 

It was one of those days. Spider-Man was taking a day off from patrolling, Aunt May was working, MJ and Ned came over after school. They quickly did their homework, ate some sandwiches, had some coffee. The boys settled on the floor of the living room, MJ sprawled on the couch with her trusty question cards and they practiced.

That was when Peter got a text from an unknown number.  _ What are you doing right now? _

He frowned for a while, letting Ned handle the next question, but he did answer.  _ Depends on who’s asking. _

The response came quickly, in the form of a picture. A selfie of Bucky, looking unimpressed at the camera, as he sat in the front seat of a car.

Peter bit back a snort, but he did save the number and texted him back.  _ Decathlon practice with Ned&MJ at my place. _

He didn’t get a response, but there was a knock on the door five minutes later. Peter gulped, apologizing to MJ even if he didn’t really know for what.

He gulped again, when he opened the door and saw Bucky and Vision in the hallway.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’, Vision said pleasantly.

‘Everything.’, Bucky whined loudly.

‘You see, Peter, everyone else is off on a mission.’, Vision started explaining.

Peter’s eyes grew wide at that and a weight dropped in his stomach.

‘It is not something incredibly dangerous, more of a reconnaissance mission, really. But the compound is… seemingly empty and Bucky was getting…’

‘Bored.’, Bucky supplied. ‘Very fucking bored.’

‘I was going to say anxious.’, Vision threw him a look. ‘And somehow we ended up driving here.’

He smiled easily at Peter, eyes skipping past him, to MJ and Ned, probably.

‘We can totally help you study.’, Bucky said.

Both Peter and Vision snorted at that. But he wasn’t going to tell them to leave, so he let them inside.

Bucky headed straight for the couch, with only a small detour to fistbump Ned. He wordlessly lifted up MJ’s legs and sat down under them, letting her feet fall back into his lap.

Vision was more well raised. 

‘Hello, MJ, it’s good to see you.’

‘You too.’, she smiled at Vision, glaring back at Bucky afterwards.

‘You must be Ned.’, he extended a hand. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, I am Vision.’

Ned, the poor idiot, he looked a little wide-eyed, but he did manage to shake Vision’s hand and politely return the sentiment.

‘We are sorry to interrupt your studying.’, Vision said politely.

Bucky snorted. ‘No we’re not.’

‘Rude.’, MJ pointed out.

‘How about I bribe your forgiveness with pizza?’, he grinned at her. ‘And Vision and I can take turns with your question cards. You still have to compete if you’re a captain, right?’

Slowly, MJ turned to look at Peter with narrowed eyes. He shrunk back, a little.

‘Steve and Bucky are my friends.’, he managed to mumble. ‘I tell them things.’

Bucky was grinning wildly, Ned looked like he wanted to facepalm and Vision was curiously looking over the bookcase. 

Eventually, MJ rolled his eyes, turning back to Bucky. ‘I want pineapple on my pizza.’

He pulled a face. ‘There are some things about this modern time that I absolutely hate.’

‘You and me both, buddy.’, Ned gagged, as he always did when MJ displayed weird eating habits. 

Still, Bucky ordered her a pineapple pizza. He also ordered eight other pizzas, arguing that him and Peter ate a lot, which was true. They talked nonsense until the food came, they talked about school and Bucky complained about still not finding an apartment for him and Steve.

Did it feel weird, having his best friends hanging out with two Avengers in his living room? It sure did. But it also felt really awesome, so Peter was grinning like an idiot. He was aware of it, and everyone kept shooting him weird looks, but he ignored them.

As soon as the pizza was done, Bucky kept true to his promise. He took all the cards MJ had, split them between himself and Vision and they took turns asking questions. It didn’t take long for it to develop in a competition. Ned and Peter were pretty chill about stuff like this, usually, but add MJ to the mix and it all kicked up a notch.

They all got super competitive, so much so that MJ pulled out the bells they used during practice, and Vision was actually keeping score. Him and Bucky were sitting on the couch, the three of them on the floor, on the other side of the coffee table. The competitiveness got so bad that it involved into kicks and punches to keep the other ones from ringing their bell. More often than not, Peter had Ned’s hand in his face and MJ’s elbow or knee pressing on his stomach.

And it was still a very close call. Nobody ever made a mistake, it all came down to who managed to ring the bell quicker.

It was to this scene that Aunt May came home. She took it pretty well, considering. Her jaw dropped and she stared for a while, but then she shook herself out of it. 

‘Peter, honey, let go of MJ’s hair, that’s not very nice.’

He did let go of her hair and like a pushed button, all three of them calmed down.

‘Hey, May!’, Ned said brightly. 

‘How was work?’, MJ went on.

May sighed, before turning to the couch. ‘May Parker, nice to meet you.’

‘Bucky Barnes.’, he winked at her.

‘I am Vision, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.’

‘Not that I mind, but what are you doing here?’

‘Helping the kids train for the Decathlon.’, Bucky said somewhat proudly.

‘Disassociating from our anxiety caused by our team being away on a mission without us.’, Vision went on.

May turned with wide eyes at Peter. 

‘There’s still some pizza left for you.’, he said, smiling. 

‘Well’, she gulped, ‘at least nobody’s bleeding.’

‘Quite.’, Vision smiled. ‘Although, the children have come close to it.’

‘That’s actually normal.’, May pulled a face, before yawning wildly.

Peter got up and went to hug her, gently guiding her to her bedroom. ‘Why don’t you go shower, and I’ll have some pizza and tea waiting for you when you’re done, okay? We’ll keep quiet, so you can nap.’

‘Was Vision telling the truth?’, she whispered. ‘Is everything really alright?’

‘Seems like it. Vision doesn’t really lie, like ever, so, yeah. It’s true.’

‘Okay.’, she yawned again. ‘I want blueberry tea and don’t go pulling on MJ’s pigtails anymore. Is not as cute as you think.’

He stuck his tongue out at her.

 

 

When he got back to the living room, it was clear that their practice ended. MJ and Ned were playing Mario Kart, Bucky was scrolling on his phone and Vision went back to inspecting the bookcase.

‘Do we need to leave?’, Bucky asked him, after Peter sat down next to him on the couch.

‘No, it’s fine, she’ll be asleep in no time. She secretly likes having her house full.’

‘How’s that?’, Bucky frowned.

Peter shrugged, lowering his voice. ‘She and my uncle got me when I was little, so they got used to a hyperactive toddler around. I didn’t really have friends growing up, and after Uncle Ben died… it’s been quiet around here.’

‘Not anymore.’, Bucky pointed out somewhat gently.

‘No.’, Peter nodded. ‘She adopted Ned instantly and she keeps telling me how nice it is to have another lady around.’

He started snickering at that, but Peter didn’t comment. When he stopped, though, Bucky made a complicated hand gesture that had them heading as silently as possible to the kitchen. Once there, he leaned against the counter and leveled Peter with a look.

‘I can’t help but notice you seem different around your friends. I mean, I’ve only seen you and Ned once, but with MJ… it’s different.’

Peter gulped. ‘Different how?’

‘Closer, somehow. I don’t know, like you’re more comfortable with her being around.’

Bucky was looking at Peter in a way that he didn’t like. Like he had figured something out about Peter, about Peter and MJ, and really, as uncomfortable as he felt under Bucky’s gaze, he had a bigger issue.

‘It’s been better since I told her… stuff.’, he said slowly.

‘But that’s not it.’

‘Not all of it.’, Peter sighed. ‘Is it that obvious?’

Bucky chuckled, and when Peter looked up, he saw the man looking incredibly fond at him. 

‘It’s obvious if you know where to look.’, Bucky finally said. ‘I’ve seen enough pinning in my lifetime to recognize it.’

‘Steve? Are you talking about Steve?’

Bucky snorted. ‘Steve, yeah, but also, you know, in the mirror.’

Oh, Peter wanted to ask. Peter wanted to ask really badly, but the way Bucky’s eyes seemed incredibly sad, even as his smile was fond, it told Peter that it was better to keep his mouth shut.

‘So why won’t you do something?’, Bucky asked next, and he was quick to shake his head.

‘That’s a ridiculous thought.’, Peter answered immediately.

‘It’s not, all you have to do is ask her to the movies and a milkshake and make sure Ned stays home.’

‘Yeah, no. She doesn’t date. And even if she did, she wouldn’t date me.’

Bucky smacked him over the side of his head. Granted, it was done with his flesh hand and somewhat gently, but it still startled Peter enough for him to yelp.

‘Don’t sell yourself short, dumbass.’, Bucky told him strongly. ‘You’re smart and handsome and a freaking superhero. And on top of all that, you’re a good friend to her! She’d be an idiot not to like you, and you and I both know she’s not an idiot.’

Honestly, Peter’s heart was slowly melting out of his chest and onto the floor. He didn’t think Bucky was right, but the fact that Bucky believed what he was saying, it made Peter feel all mushy inside.

So he hugged Bucky, and this time, he was the one that yelped. 

‘Thanks for saying that.’, Peter told him in a whisper. ‘It’s not gonna make me be an idiot and ask her out, but I appreciate you telling me that. And I really hope you’re not pining over someone, because anybody would be lucky to have you.’

Bucky huffed, highly aggravated. He slapped Peter’s back twice, before pushing him away. ‘You’re an idiot for  _ not  _ asking her out.’

He walked back to the living room. As soon as they sat back down on the couch, he turned to Peter with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

‘Have you spoken to Shuri recently?’

Peter blinked. ‘We text everyday, but it’s mostly memes.’

‘You should totally call her, sometime before next week.’, Bucky grinned evilly.

‘Who’s Shuri?’, MJ asked suspiciously.

‘Oh, she’s our favorite princess. Didn’t Peter tell you about her?’

MJ turned her narrowed eyes to Peter.

‘She’s King T’Challa’s sister.’

‘Why do you know the sister of the King of Wakanda?’

‘He knows the King of Wakanda, too.’, Bucky happly piped up.

‘Which is not a thing I can actually explain’, Peter yelped, ‘because of the 50 page long non-disclosure agreement he made me sign.’

‘I thought you said you told your friends.’, Bucky frowned.

‘I did tell them, what happened to  _ me _ . What  _ I  _ went through. The rest are not my secrets to tell.’

Bucky blinked, twice, before he seemed to understand. ‘Right, you’re right, sorry. I forget sometimes that not everyone is out in the open like Steve and I are. Still.’, he winked. ‘Call Shuri. Something’s happening next week and she’ll give you a heads up.’

‘Something bad?’, Peter questioned.

Bucky smirked, eyes skipping to MJ, who was still watching them. ‘Not bad. Kinda good, I think.’

It sounded evil, to Peter, and it made him anxious.

 

 

He did talk to Shuri, went out for coffee with her in the weekend.

She was, apparently, going to be holding a series of workshops at his school the following week. It didn’t sound so bad, it actually sounded kinda cool. She will be showcasing some Wakanda tech, explaining it to the kids and looking out for possible interns for the summer.

It was all fine by Peter. Until Monday morning, when he was called into the Principal’s office and tasked with being Shuri’s personal assistant for the time she’ll spend at school.

‘You did this.’, he glared at her as they walked out. 

‘I sure did.’, she grinned. ‘I told your principal I knew you from the Stark internship. He was concerned about your attendance record’, she paired this with a slap to his shoulder, ‘but honestly I don’t need much from you. Just to walk me from class to class so I don’t get lost and keep me entertained at lunch. Here’s my schedule’, she gave him a couple of papers, ‘and a notice that you’re allowed to be late for class’, another paper, ‘and I’m not thanking you, cause I’m doing you a favor.’

‘How are you doing me a favor?’

‘By increasing your popularity, d’uh.’

Peter didn’t get it, not until Shuri pointedly looked around. Following her, he saw that everyone in the hallway was staring at them.

‘You know’, he whispered, ‘being popular is really not what I want considering…’, he tilted his head, ‘my secret.’

Shuri smirked at that, and she wrapped an arm around his. ‘Come on, Peter Parker. Lead me to classroom’, she checked her papers, ‘2157.’

Peter sighed.

 

 

It wasn’t that bad, really. He just had to rush out of his classes as soon as the bell rang, and he usually missed the first 5 minutes. But it was fun, hanging out with Shuri for those few minutes, as she whined about how small minded everyone was and about how she was going to kill the next person who asks if she can make a lightsaber.

The only issue came at lunch.

‘So I usually sit with my friends but you should probably… not do that.’

‘Why not?’, she raised an eyebrow.

‘We’re the school losers. You’re the super cool princess. Best to stay away.’

That got him another slap. ‘They are your friends, yes?’

He nodded.

‘You like them?’

‘A lot.’

‘That’s good enough for me.’, Shuri grinned. ‘Do they know?’

‘About me, yeah.’

‘Brilliant. Lead the way.’

With a sigh, Peter headed to their usual table, where MJ and Ned were already sitting. Both of them startled, when he introduced Shuri.

‘You wanna sit here?’, Ned kind of shrieked.

Shuri rolled her eyes and pointedly sat down next to him, making Peter sit next to Michelle, on the other side of the table.

‘I don’t understand this whole popular/loser conundrum. You’re in one of the best schools in America, you’d think you’d have better things to do than occupy your brain with such frivolities.’

‘You’d think…’, Ned mumbled.

‘How come you ended up on the loser side of the spectrum, anyway?’

When neither of them answered, Shuri turned to MJ.

‘Well.’, she said slowly. ‘Ned made the mistake of never joining the football team and preferring fries to protein shakes.’

‘That’s true.’, Ned nodded. ‘I’m not even mad.’

‘And Peter?’

MJ hesitated, kind of pointedly not turning to look at him. So he pushed his knee to hers, letting her know it was ok to say whatever she wanted.

‘Peter isolated himself after his uncle died and made the mistake of befriending Ned.’

Shuri frowned. ‘I want to punch someone.’

‘Please don’t.’, Peter said.

‘I also want to hug you.’

‘Maybe later.’

She shook herself out of it. ‘What about you, MJ?’

‘I actually do have better things to do than occupy my time and brain with such frivolous things.’

‘Good.’, Shuri smiled wildly. ‘I like you. Now, please, tell me who I shouldn’t extend the offer of an internship to and why.’

‘Wouldn’t you want to know who you  _ should _ ask?’, Ned pointed out.

‘No, I can figure that out myself. I need to know things that are not obvious.’

And that’s how they spent lunch. With MJ and Shuri talking about people in school, Peter and Ned silently watching them.

That’s how they spent every lunch that week, but Shuri sat down next to MJ the next day, and it didn’t take long for their topics of discussions to change into more laughable matters. Peter, they mostly made fun of Peter. He didn’t know how he felt about that.

 

 

His workshop with Shuri was scheduled on Friday, and Ned and MJ were there too. Unfortunately, so was Flash and it was clear that he was desperately trying to get his hands on an invitation.

Shuri was very annoyed by it, Peter could tell. Still, she went on with her workshop, and it was just as cool as Peter expected. 

At the end, there was a Q&A session, and someone asked how did Wakanda manage to keep all of this hidden from the rest of the world. 

‘That’s a really good question and actually, I’m interested to hear how you think we did it.’

Nobody said anything.

‘Come on guys, tell me what you think. No idea is too ridiculous and no idea is bad.’

Still, nothing. Shuri narrowed her eyes and they zeroed in on him.

‘What do you think, Peter?’

‘I’m not answering that.’, he sighed. ‘It’s not fair, because I already know the answer.’

‘Yeah, right.’, Flash snorted. ‘You’re just hanging out at your stupid Stark internship and T’Chamba walks by, asks you for a pen and tells you his country’s secrets.’

He could tell that Shuri was getting angry, so Peter was quick to answer.

‘His name is T’Challa and the proper way to address him is  _ King _ . But no, I’ve never seen him at Stark Enterprises.’

‘Plus, my brother would never ask for a pen.’, Shuri pointed out. ‘We haven’t used pens since 1937.’

Peter sighed, noticing how everyone stared at Shuri in shock. 

‘She always does this. Says things like this that may or may not be true, but you have no way of being sure.’

‘Gotta keep you on your toes.’, Shuri playfully winked. ‘Now tell me, Peter, how did we keep the secret?’

He took a deep breath and started talking about the forcefield.

 

 

Peter came with Shuri to his training session that friday, and Steve actually had to hurry to keep up with Bucky.

He was very excited, as Shuri told them about how her week at Peter’s school went. But then they shared a  _ look _ , and Shuri frowned.

‘I don’t think MJ likes me very much.’

‘What?’, Peter’s head snapped up. ‘Why? You’ve been cool all week.’

Shuri tilted her head, thinking. ‘I don’t think she likes how you and I act, to be honest.’

‘What?’

‘She doesn’t like our harmless flirting.’

Peter turned red, instantly. ‘That’s not-’

‘It is.’, Shuri cut him off strongly. ‘We have fun  but she did seem a little jealous.’

Again, Peter tried denying it, but Shuri said she had work to do and walked away, and Steve took pity on the kid and told him to get ready for training.

He rounded on Bucky. ‘You got her in on this?’

‘She was more than happy to mess with Peter, at first. But then she texted me on Tuesday to say I was right.’

Steve sighed, deeply. ‘If he finds out what you’re doing, he’s going to feel betrayed.’

‘I don’t think so, not after that conversation we had at his place.’

‘You never told me how that went down.’

Bucky snorted. ‘I don’t have to tell you everything.’

Steve narrowed his eyes somewhat playfully. ‘What are you hiding?’

‘Loads.’, came the amused response. ‘So many things.’

‘Come on, Buck, tell me.’

Of course, he didn’t. Steve realized that it probably wasn’t something too important, but he still would have liked to know.

 

 

That saturday, come noon, Steve trampled on his ego and called Peter. He answered quickly, but it was clear that he was in his suit, swinging somewhere above the city.

‘Okay, Cap, if nothing’s wrong, then what do you need?’

‘Do I have to need something? Can’t I just call you to see how you are?’

Bucky threw him a look at that, and he was certain Peter was supporting a similar one.

‘Okay, fine.’, Steve sighed. ‘Bucky and I finally finished decorating our apartment and well… You know, we can handle technology pretty well, especially the things we need to use in missions.’

‘But?’

‘But we can’t figure out how to set up the tv.’

Peter said nothing for a long while. Then, very slowly, ‘You can’t set up your tv.’

‘We set up the tv.’, Steve explained. ‘But then there’s the dvr and the chromecast and the x-box and-’

‘You know Tony Stark. And Vision. Why didn’t you call them?’

Steve sighed. ‘They’d never stop making fun of us.’

Peter, of course, started laughing hysterically at that. Steve let him have at it for a full minute, before asking, kind of gruffly, if he was done.

‘Sorry, Steve. Yeah, yeah, uh, I had plans with Ned but-’

‘Sure, come over with Ned. I’ll text you the address.’

‘Bring MJ too!’, Bucky yelled without shame.

‘Sure.’, Peter didn’t miss a beat. ‘Sure, Cap. We’re on our way.’

After Steve ended the call, Bucky was grinning somewhat evilly at him.

‘Just please promise me you won’t lock them in a closet.’

Bucky snorted. ‘I’m smarter than that.’

‘I seriously doubt that.’

 

 

Peter showed up with a box of donuts from his favorite place in Queens. Ned showed up with some traditional Hawaiian sweets. MJ showed up with a bag filled with fresh flowers and three vases. 

They all got hugged for it, and Bucky was quick to order pizza. He already knew what they wanted.

Ned got to work quickly enough, and after some hesitation, MJ asked is she was allowed to snoop around and judge their decorating skills. Steve waved her off, and Peter waited a full minute before he was following her.

As Bucky was paying attention to what Ned was doing, Steve sat on the couch, pulled out a sketchbook to draw them and kept an eye out for MJ and Peter. If he focused a little, he could hear them almost perfectly.

‘I’m in Steve Rogers’ bedroom.’, MJ said lowly. There was an excitement in her tone that Steve had never heard before.

Peter was silent for a while, but then Steve heard the distinct sound of his bed squeaking.

‘What are you doing?’, MJ sounded horrified. ‘Get down from there!’

‘You get up here!’, Peter playfully answered.

It took a while, but the bed protested again, a few seconds later. And again, and again, and again. They were probably jumping on it. Probably. Hopefully. Steve didn’t think they had the guts to do anything else. 

Still, he was mildly pissed, and he made sure to convey that in his tone, as he yelled.

‘You guys do know I can hear you, right?’

The bed immediately stopped making noises. 

‘Sorry, Cap.’, Peter was still grinning, he could tell.

‘Get your asses off my bed!’

Judging by the landing, Peter showed off and did a backflip on his way down. 

‘Show-off.’, MJ mumbled.  

And then there came a series of weird sounds. It sounded like MJ slipped on her way off the bed, because she yelped. Peter yelped too, as he slided on the wooden floor. 

‘I’ve got you.’, he said next, in a breathless voice. ‘I’ve got you.’

They were silent for far too long. So much so, that Steve went to investigate. He did it silently, so neither of the kids noticed him. They wouldn’t have noticed him even if he was louder.

Peter did in fact catch MJ as she was stumbling out of bed. Both of his arms were wrapped around her waist, and the girl’s feet weren’t touching the ground. They were staring at each other, blinking slowly. MJ seemed surprised, while Peter looked like he had never held anything as precious as her.

Steve walked away. Still, he heard MJ asking to be put down, and he heard Peter start mumbling apologies immediately. 

‘The perks of being friends with Spider-Man.’, MJ said in a normal voice.

‘Yeah, there are some perks.’, Peter agreed.

‘Some.’, she snorted. ‘Saving damsels in distress-’

‘You’re not a-’

‘Climbing into unassuming girls’ bedroom late at night.’

‘I brought you ice cream!’

‘Hanging out with Avengers on a saturday.’

‘I didn’t hear you complaining!’

‘I’m not, I’m just saying… Having Spider-Man as a bff is surprisingly fun.’

There was a pause, before Peter spoke in a smug voice.

‘Bff, huh?’

MJ huffed, making her way out of the bedroom. Before they made their way back to the living room, Steve and Bucky locked eyes. The other man looked smug as hell, but he also looked… happy.

‘Not a word.’, Steve said gruffly, but he was smiling.

Bucky, the asshole, just winked at him.

 

 

It was a nice day.

The kids were entertaining, fighting over food and over who got to sit next to Steve and Bucky on the couch (MJ won). They didn’t ask a billion questions about Captain America and the Winter Soldier, but MJ did talk with Steve about his art, which was a hobby they shared, and Ned talked to Bucky about new bits of tech Stark Enterprises will be releasing soon.

Peter just seemed happy to be there. Really, the kid did not stop smiling, it was kind of infectious.

But Steve couldn’t help himself. After what he had seen in his bedroom, and after Bucky drilling the seed into his head, he couldn’t stop himself from paying attention to MJ and Peter.

And Bucky was right, because there was a lot to pay attention to. 

Peter, bless his sweet innocent soul, was kind of trying to be stealthy about it. He only looked at MJ when she wouldn’t notice, he wanted to touch her often, but always stopped himself. He was openly sweet, though, making sure MJ always had juice in her cup and making her coffee when she asked, letting her have the first slice of pizza. 

MJ saw it all, Steve was sure of it. She didn’t give it away, exactly, but Steve was playing very close attention. So he saw her eyes sparkle every time Peter drew his hand back from touching her, she always watched him when he spoke, always laughed at his jokes, even if they were terrible and she tried really hard not to.

‘Hey, Steve.’, Peter stopped his train of thoughts. ‘I’m gonna have to skip training next friday. We can do it on thursday, though.’

‘Sure, no problem. What are you doing?’

‘Nationals!’, the three kids said in very high pitched voices.

‘Uh, already?’, Bucky also seemed excited.

‘Yeah, we leave on friday, spending the weekend in Texas.’

‘Why Texas?’, Steve pulled a face.

‘There is a very long explanation for that.’, Ned said. ‘Nobody read it.’ 

‘It doesn’t matter where we’re going!’, MJ said strongly. ‘We’ll be too busy practicing to care where we are.’

‘Of course, General.’, Bucky teased, making her glare at him.

‘We’ve been calling her MJ Hari.’, Ned smiled.

‘You have not!’, her eyes were wide. 

‘Well not us, per say.’, Peter explained. ‘But the rest of the team.’

MJ straightened her shoulders. ‘Revenge will be swift.’

Steve and Bucky laughed loudly, especially when Ned and Peter actually looked frightened.

 

 

After they said their farewells (handshakes for Ned, hugs for MJ), Peter lingered in the doorway after his friends left.

‘Thank you for this.’

‘No, thank you.’, Steve argued. ‘You helped us out.’

The kid shook his head. ‘It means a lot to them, hanging out with you like this. Means a lot to me too.’

‘It’s no bother.’, Bucky snorted. ‘We actually like you guys.’

‘Yeah, but…’, Peter chuckled weekly. ‘Captain America and the Winter Soldier invited us into their home. Us!? We’re the school losers. And you treat us like we’re… your friends. Even if we’re 16 year old nerds. You have no idea how important that is.’

‘Peter.’, Steve said softly. ‘You’re good people.’

‘When we grew up’, Bucky took over, ‘that’s the only thing that mattered. And honestly, we don’t meet a lot of people who… look at us like we’re people. Like we’re just Stevie and Buck.’

Peter didn’t say anything more, but he did hug them. Both Steve and Bucky, at the same time, smashing them together. 

After the door was closed behind him, Bucky smiled at Steve.

‘Do we have any plans next weekend?’

He sighed. ‘We’re going to Texas, aren’t we?’

Bucky grinned wildly. ‘You bet your sweet ass we’re going to Texas.’

He left, babbling about finding a hotel and asking Friday for a Quinjet, while Steve was left in the hallway blushing furiously, because  _ sweet ass _ ?!

 

 

Peter prayed to whatever god was listening that he didn’t have to do a repeat of the Nationals last year. True, he wasn’t actively looking for a villain, but he was still anxious about it.

But nothing happened. They got to the hotel safely, settled in, had dinner with the rest of the team. He was sharing a room with Ned, again, which was fine. They even did the responsible thing, ask each other questions before they settled in bed watching The Office. 

It was 11:30 when they both got a text from MJ.  _ Swimming pool in 10 minutes. That’s an order. _

She did tell them to pack swimming suits at the last practice. They weren’t going to endure MJ’s wrath, so they put on their shorts, grabbed some towels, and headed to the swimming pool. There were hotel personnel there, speaking with MJ, which was weird.

But she explained, that she convinced Principal Morita to rent the pool for them for an hour. Team bonding, and all. Then she promptly shoved Peter in the pool, because of course she did.

It was fun, though. For that hour, they all splashed around in the water, except for MJ, who loudly announced she was on her period and just sat at the edge of the pool with her feet in the water. They didn’t talk about school at all and it was loads of fun.

Peter wasn’t really friends with all of these people, but they’ve been spending at least four hours a week together in the past two years, and they were in the same pot, the nerds, working hard towards the same goal. But they actually had fun now, even Flash seemed less of a douchebag and it was such a big difference from last year. It was great.

Ned called dibs over first shower, so he headed back to the room first. The rest of the kids left soon enough, and Peter found himself alone with MJ. He was still in the pool, so he swam to her side, resting his arms on the edge, close to where she was sitting. She moved her legs and splashed him, of course, but he didn’t mind it, and she stopped soon enough.

‘This was a good idea.’, he smiled up at her.

‘It was Liz’s idea.’, she mumbled, blushing a little. 

‘Yeah, but you made it legit by convincing Morita. Which I’m sure wasn’t an easy thing.’

She just shrugged at that.

‘Are you nervous about tomorrow?’

‘A little.’, MJ admitted after a beat. ‘But not for the contest, but more… because of the people.’

Peter groaned in understanding. ‘At least you have a year of experience under your belt. I missed last year.’

She hummed, raising an eyebrow at him. ‘Plan on doing that again?’

‘No.’, he was quick to answer. ‘Not unless there’s aliens attacking.’

‘Why would aliens attack Texas?’

‘Because that’s just my life, MJ.’

She laughed at that, and Peter liked the way she looked, liked the way her laughter sounded. He liked it a lot.

‘Hey’, he whispered, ‘are you really on your period?’

MJ pulled a series of faces, landing on a confused one. ‘No, I just forgot my swimsuit.’

‘Really?’, he looked her over. She was wearing a pair of jeans shorts and a cropped Rolling Stones shirt with a bralette peeking underneath. Peter looked for her phone, glad to find it on a chair a few feet away.

He put a hand on her knee, making her jaw drop.

‘Parker, don’t you dare.’

He moved his hand up her thigh, to the edge of her shorts.

‘Peter, I swear to God I will murder you.’

‘That’s a good way to go.’, he grinned.

And then he grabbed her thigh properly, and pulled. She screeched as she fell into the water, but Peter didn’t know if she knew how to swim and they were at the deep end of the pool. So even as MJ struggled, he held onto her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tread the water, making sure to keep both of them afloat.

Eventually, MJ calmed down. She stopped fighting, started moving her legs, helping him out, and held onto his shoulders.

‘I hate you so much.’, she glared at him. ‘So fucking much.’

He just grinned. ‘Can you swim?’

She nodded, but Peter didn’t let go of her, and he took immense pleasure in the fact that she didn’t demand to be released.

‘Damn you, Parker.’, MJ sighed. But then she strengthened her hold on him and pushed her head to his shoulder. She was hugging him, pretty darn tightly, in a pool in Texas, the night before nationals, without another soul in sight. And something shifted in Peter.

It wasn’t the way he felt about MJ, because that was, by this point, settled deeply inside of his chest. But he was content with not thinking about it, not… doing anything about it. He was content to think that there was no way he would ever actually be more than friends with MJ.

That content feeling shattered because of the way MJ felt in his arms. The way she breathed against his skin, the way her nails were pressing gently into his back, the way she felt warm, even submerged in the cold water.

The way she was the one to push closer to him.

‘We should get out.’, MJ whispered. ‘The hour’s up.’

He held onto her for a moment longer, giving in to his weakness and pressing a kiss to her temple. But then he lifted her up until she was sitting at the edge of the pool and easily lifted himself up.

She sighed. ‘Perks.’

Peter grinned, remembering the conversation they had in Steve’s bedroom.

MJ they punched his stomach. ‘Your abs are ridiculous.’

He faked being aggravated, when in fact he was kind of walking on cloud nine.

 

 

The organizational staff freaked out when Steve and Bucky stepped foot into the hall holding the competition. It took a while, but they did explain that they were really there just to support their friends, and they were left alone after that. 

With caps on their heads and Bucky in long sleeves, most people were too excited or nervous about the contest to pay them any attention, as they waited in the reception area. 

Bucky had texted Peter, a simple  _ Guess where Steve and I are? _ , but they were still waiting for an answer.

‘I can’t believe you roped me into this.’, Steve mumbled, but it came out weak.

In reality, he was really glad to be there. Bucky and him have never gone on a road trip together, and that is what they did now. Took turns driving, eating unhealthy gas station snacks and terrible coffee, arguing over who got to pick the music. They checked into a fancy hotel because of security reasons, but even so, they shared a room and it was great. Steve was having a great time and he didn’t really understand why, but he felt his love for Bucky growing ten times, during that long drive. He didn’t think he could love Bucky even more, but here he was.

‘Peter answered.’, was all Bucky said before pressing his shoulder to Steve’s and angling his phone.

He made sure to include a banner of the competition in the frame, and Steve was frowning as Bucky’s eyes were closed, but he sent it to Peter.

‘What the  _ fuck? _ ’, Peter’s yell was heard from behind a door in the other part of the building.

Sure enough, the door opened and Peter came out running, followed closely by a confused Ned and an angry MJ.

‘What the actual hell are you doing here?’, Peter hissed as he got to their side.

‘Calm down.’, Bucky grinned. ‘We’re here to watch you kick ass.’

‘We’re here to support you.’, Steve rolled his eyes.

Peter still looked wary.

‘Is the world ending?’, MJ deadpanned, finally reaching them. 

‘That only happens on Thursdays.’, Bucky responded quickly. 

She narrowed her eyes at him.

‘We’re just here to cheer you on. Really, we got tickets and everything.’

MJ calmed down only after Bucky showed her the tickets. Steve saw that all of their teammates were staring at them. That Flash kid looked like he wanted to march down there, but Ned was doing a good job of holding him back.

‘This isn’t smart.’, MJ finally said. ‘It’s not plausible, you two being so friendly with Stark’s loser intern. People are gonna figure out something… more than that is happening.’

‘Probably not.’, Bucky snorted. ‘People tend to completely miss the truth that’s just in front of them.’

‘I didn’t.’, MJ kept on glaring. 

Bucky smiled at that, the type of smile he used to aim at girls before asking them out. ‘You’re not most people, sweetheart.’

‘Don’t flirt with me to get your way, that’s gross.’, came the immediate response. ‘And don’t call me  _ sweetheart _ , it’s degrading and rude.’

Bucky, the asshole, kept on smiling. It took a while, but MJ’s glare diminished. 

‘The Stark internship is a good failsafe.’, Steve felt the need to say. ‘Tony and all of us will deny any theory might pop up. But it probably won’t.’

‘Fine.’, MJ sighed. ‘You guys should go find your seats.’, she turned to Peter. ‘You get two minutes for bro-hugs, not a second more.’

He nodded, watching her walk away for a second, before turning back to Steve and Bucky.

‘You’re really here to cheer?’

‘Well we don’t have any pompoms, but yes.’

Steve didn’t even finish the sentence before he was being hugged by Peter. Of course, he returned it.

‘It was Bucky’s idea.’, he told the kid, who was quick to let go and hug the other man just as tightly. 

‘Go.’, he laughed. ‘Go kick some academical ass.’

Buck also slapped Peter’s ass as he left, and the yelp that followed made Steve laugh.

 

 

Steve didn’t understand a lot of the questions. He knew the answers of very few. So he occupied himself with something else.

Peter was sitting between Ned and MJ. They were all nervous, but MJ was the best at controlling it, keeping her back straight and her lips pursed. Peter was clearly bouncing his legs under the table but after a few elbows from MJ and what looked like her putting her hand on his knee, he managed to calm down and focus on the task.

It was a long competition. Bucky kept bouncing his leg as well, and he kept muttering ‘Come on!” under his breath. When Steve copied MJ and put his hand on the other man’s bouncing knee, it didn’t make the movement stop. Instead, Bucky took his hand and kept at it. Steve didn’t complain. 

When things started getting really heated between the two teams, Bucky started mumbling ‘Oh shit.’ under his breath. Steve pushed their shoulders together, and the other man smiled before going back to his curses.

Steve paid very close attention to the last question, the  _ sudden death _ , as they called it. The first correct answer was going to win the championship.

‘What is the chemical element that first powered Tony Stark’s arc reactors?’

The other team was quicker to the buzzer, even if MJ and Peter were both reaching for theirs. But the other school answered with vibranium, which was wrong, thus giving the Midtown team another chance. MJ hesitated, and so did Peter. Nobody else was even reaching for the buzzer.

‘Fucking do it.’, Bucky whispered. 

Peter and MJ shared a look. No words were spoken, but Peter smiled at her. First, he grabbed her hand and pushed it back on the table, and then he rung his buzzer.

‘Palladium.’

Everyone held their breath, except for Peter, who was smiling wildly. As the answer was deemed correct, the hall erupted into cheers. Bucky got off his chair and started screaming and clapping and really, Steve just was the tiniest bit more composed. 

Still, he saw that MJ was the first one to hug Peter, pushing her face into the crook of his neck. And he saw that she didn’t let go even after their teammates descended on them.

 

 

They shared some hugs after the kids got out with their trophy, but they didn’t crowd on them. So Steve and Bucky left, walking around town and eating all the deep fried things they could find. 

Still, Peter texted around midnight, asking if they were up for a snack. Bucky didn’t hesitate, Steve didn’t get to point out that the kids weren’t supposed to leave the hotel. And sure enough, when they parked the par at the back of the hotel like they were instructed, Bucky was eyeing the high wall, clearly just realizing it.

‘So they’re sneaking out.’, Bucky said slowly. ‘That’s fine.’

‘It’s not.’, Steve’s grumble went ignored.

‘Peter can climb the wall, but what about MJ?’

‘Did he tell you he’ll bring MJ?’

Bucky snorted. ‘No, but he’ll bring MJ.’

Steve sighed.

A few minutes later, Peter jumped up on the wall. He saw the car, waved at them, then turned back and faced the hotel, shooting a web towards the ground. MJ pulled herself up on it, and did the same thing as she came down on the other side. Peter, of course, back flipped off the wall.

They were both grinning as they got into the car.

‘Where’s Ned?’, was the first thing Bucky asked. Asleep, was the answer.

‘Did anyone see you leave and get you into trouble?’, was the second question that got a pretty sure ‘No.’ as an answer.

‘Where do you want to go?’, was the third answer.

They were going to McDonalds, apparently. 

Steve sighed a lot.

 

 

Bucky got two milkshakes, Steve got a coffee and fries, and between them, the kids got over 50 chicken nuggets and about 10 sauces.

They sat outside at a table, even if it was a little chilly. MJ explained that they were still too hyped up to sleep, too had too much energy and while the words of the book she was trying to read were floating on the page, Peter had been recording Ned’s snores and making music out of them.

The kids were acting a little weird. Steve couldn't put his finger on it, but something was wrong. Before he could think of a good enough way to ask, Bucky barrelled straight through it.

‘You’re acting weird. Why are you acting weird?’

MJ and Peter shared a long look. He shook his head, which made her roll her eyes. 

‘It’s just highschool drama.’, Peter sighed.

MJ huffed. ‘Flash made a really nasty comment today. He’s not usually… he’s a bully and an idiot, but he’s not usually a big enough of an idiot to actually say hurtful, real stuff. But he did that today.’

‘It wasn’t even that bad.’, Peter said, meekly, making a flash of anger appear in MJ’s eyes.

‘It was that bad.’, she turned towards Steve and Bucky. ‘He made a comment about how Peter was finally getting back to normal after his uncle was killed.’

Steve didn’t see it, but he heard the plates on Bucky’s arms shift. It was an involuntary reaction, that came from anger and Steve could relate.

‘Ned punched Flash, gave him a black eye.’, MJ went on. ‘I threw hot coffee in his face. We didn’t even get in trouble for it.’

‘Good.’, Steve said slowly. ‘It was better than having Peter get to him.’

‘I wanted to.’, the kid admitted. ‘They got there faster.’

‘Teenagers are fucking horrible.’, Bucky said strongly. ‘Not all of them, clearly.’, he waved a hand towards the kids. ‘But some of them really are walking shitbags.’

‘Flash doesn’t matter.’, MJ looked at Bucky, but she was talking to Peter. ‘He’s a child riding high on his parents wealth and name and as soon as life will hit him in the face, he’ll be in a ditch, unable to get himself out. We’re so much better than him.’

‘You are.’, Steve finally found his voice. ‘But unfortunately, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the power of hurting you right now.’

‘Well that sucks.’, Peter sighed, deeply. ‘I can bench press a whole building and just a few words from Flash keep me up a night? That’s not fair.’

‘Life’s not fair, unfortunately.’, MJ snorted. ‘But at least you have people willing to go with you to McDonalds in the middle of the night.’

‘Damn straight.’, Bucky kicked the table, grinning wildly. ‘In Texas, no less.’

‘Even if you weren’t supposed to leave your hotel.’, Steve couldn’t help but point out.

It made all of them grin at him, heavily amused.

‘I don’t believe for one second you never did something you shouldn’t have growing up.’, MJ threw finger guns at him.

Which, of course, prompted Bucky to start talking. Steve Rogers, The Scoundrel: Greatest Hits, he called it. Honestly, Steve was having too much fun to be bothered by it. He enjoyed hearing Bucky talk, fond and amused, and the kids were enjoying it too, laughing loudly and teaming up to tease Steve.

It was a good night. And Bucky hugged Steve very tightly before bed.

 

 

Come Monday, Peter was still riding on the high of winning nationals. Flash even apologized, in his half-assed, still douchy way, but it was okay. People came up to him and Ned in the halls, congratulating them, teachers too, so Peter spent the day smiling.

Come lunch, he realized that MJ had a very different day. She looked like she spent the entire day running her fingers through her hair and she was glaring at her sandwich. Which was weird, because lunch was usually the time she glared at Peter and Ned.

‘What’s wrong?’, Peter asked, wearily. 

When MJ moved her glare to him, it broke, somewhat, taking an anxious route. But she didn’t say anything. Peter wanted to grab her hand, maybe, but that would have ended with a fork stab wound, so instead, he knocked their knees together under the table.

‘What happened?’

‘I have to be part of the prom committee.’

Peter’s right eye twitched, because he completely forgot prom was a thing that was happening.

‘Why do you  _ have to _ ?’, Ned asked.

‘They didn’t give me much choice.’, MJ mumbled, bitterly. ‘Apparently, taking on Liz’s mantle of captain of the team means I have to do everything she did.’

‘You could still say no.’, Peter said, gently.

She shook her head. ‘Principal Morita asked me. He was… oddly nice about it.’

There was a flush to her cheeks, and she avoided meeting their eyes. She looked terribly soft, so of course Peter opened his mouth before thinking.

‘We’ll help you.’

‘No, I won’t.’, Ned was quick to punch his shoulder.

‘I’ll help you, then.’, Peter amended. 

MJ looked dubious. 

‘There’s not an artistic bone in my body’, he admitted, ‘but I’m fairly average in organizational skills and I’ve gotten pretty well at following orders.’

‘I don’t need you in the prom committee to boss you around.’, MJ pointed out, an amused sparkle in her eyes.

‘That’s true.’, Peter smiled. ‘But, you know… perks.’ 

He paired the word with a wink, shameless in its flirting nature. But it was okay, because MJ snorted, surprised, and started laughing properly after.

‘Perks?’, Ned asked, very confused.

‘Inside joke.’, Peter said, feeling himself blush furiously. By the look Ned threw him, it was bad. But MJ did not mention it.

 

 

Peter didn’t really realize how much more time he’d spend with MJ planning the prom. She was always careful to not set any meetings during the time he had training with Steve, and most of the time, they worked during school hours.

He already spent a lot of time with her, between decathlon practice, movie nights with Ned and the odd days they did homework together. But now, he saw more of MJ that he saw Ned. 

It didn’t bother him, of course. Quite the opposite. 

He was falling in love with her before, but by the time prom was less than a week away, he thought he was already there. Peter didn’t know what this type of love was supposed to feel like, but he was pretty sure he was close enough to it. 

It was pretty late in the evening, about 9PM, and they’ve spent all day in school. Even after everyone else left, they still stayed in the gym, working on prom decorations. There were other people from the committee at first, but they left after a few hours. Peter went out and got some food and coffee, but they’ve been stuck in the gym, working with scissors and glitter side by side for a lot of hours.

Ned wasn’t coming to prom. His grandma got sick, suddenly, so he left with his family a couple of days ago. Since he heard the news, Peter had thought of asking MJ to go with him. Maybe not as a date, he didn’t think she would be up for that, but it would be nice to go together with her.

So he steeled himself, brushing glitter off his jeans before looking at her, rather pointedly.

‘Do you have a date to prom?’

MJ snorted, unperturbed. ‘What even is a date? I don’t even have a dress yet.’

He blinked. ‘You don’t?’

‘I can’t handle shopping for formal dresses on my own. If it were up to me, I’d wear my leather jacket to prom, and I know I can’t do that but I don’t know what else I can wear without feeling shitty or ridiculous. And I didn’t have the time for shopping before, and my mom’s out of town now, so I’ll probably end up in H&M on the day of the prom, grabbing whatever I can get my hands on.’

That wasn’t what Peter expected from this conversation. MJ had never spoken so long about anything even remotely close to fashion. Still…

‘May has the day off tomorrow. I think she’ll like going shopping with you, if you want.’

MJ’s head snapped up. She looked hopeful. 

Peter smiled at her, and took out his phone, calling May. She was more than happy to help, all but screeching excitedly in his ear. He passed the phone to MJ, and the two women talked for a while, making a plan for the next day.

After she ended the call, MJ was blushing, even as she was glaring at Peter. 

‘Don’t look at me like that.’

‘Like what?’

‘All… mushy and stuff.’

Peter chuckled. ‘Can’t I be happy that my two favorite ladies in the world are getting along and planning shopping dates?’

Her glare deepened, but so did her blush, and it have Peter the strength he needed.

‘So tomorrow, after you’ve got your dress… Maybe you can help May get me a matching tie.’

MJ’s eyes grew very wide at that, and it took quite a long while for her to say something.

‘You wanna be my date?’

‘Yeah. I mean, yeah, no, but it doesn’t  _ have  _ to be a date, if you don’t want to, but yeah, I’d like… that.’

Peter winced, because that didn’t make a lot of sense, he didn’t think she understood what he wanted. But she did.

‘I don’t know, yet.’, MJ whispered, before shaking herself and grinning wildly and carefree at him. ‘But either way, you’re taking me to prom, Parker.’

That was good enough for him.

 

 

The next day after school, Peter spent his time on patrol, kind of compulsively not thinking about the fact that MJ and May were together. He even picked up takeout on his way home, which was a good thing because both of the women were starving. 

MJ had a very large bag in her hand, and a few smaller ones, but she refused to show Peter her dress and she refused to even tell him about it. May found this very amusing, but after MJ left, she told Peter that the secrecy will be worth it.

It didn’t help Peter’s anxiety, not at all.

He whined about it to Steve the next day at training. He babbled about it, really, and only stopped himself when he realized that Steve was completely silent.

‘You asked MJ out on a date.’, he said slowly, looking at Peter with wide eyes.

‘I asked her to prom.’

‘On a date to prom.’

Peter frowned because Steve was acting weird. ‘Kind of.’

‘And she said yes.’

‘Kind of.’, Peter sighed. ‘She said she wasn’t sure about the date part, but that I’m taking her to prom anyway.’

‘Does Bucky know?’

Peter did a double take on that. ‘I haven’t seen him today. I just told you. Why?’

Steve tilted his head. ‘He’s very… invested in you two. He’s been trying to get you and MJ together for a while.’

‘He has?’, Peter’s jaw was on the floor. But now that he thought about it… ‘Oh.’

‘I’ve been keeping him back as much as I can.’

‘It wasn’t obvious.’, Peter admitted. ‘I mean, he didn’t do… that much.’

Steve said nothing, clearly thinking about something.

‘But why?’, Peter had to ask. 

‘I don’t actually know. I mean, he cares about you, of course, but I think it might just be something other than that.’

‘Do you think Bucky is pinning after someone?’

Steve’s head snapped up, something angry flashing in his eyes. 

‘I mean, I think so.’, Peter said gently. ‘He never said a name or anything, but he said this one thing that got me thinking.’

‘Yeah.’, Steve nodded, before shaking his head. ‘Forget about Bucky.’, he smiled. ‘You have a maybe-date to woo.’

Peter snorted at that. ‘MJ’s not the type of girl to fall for that.’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Every woman has a soft spot. And, honestly…’, Steve smirked. ‘You’ve been wooing MJ for a while now.’

‘Please stop saying  _ woo _ .’, Peter sighed, blushing furiously. 

Steve laughed and that was the end of that. But later that night, he got a mildly violent text from Bucky, who was threatening bodily harm if he wasn’t going to get a picture of the two of them on prom night.

 

 

May handed Peter a dark teal dress shirt and a silver bow tie, telling him to wear his leather chucks. She said nothing else, just smirked knowingly. He hated her, a little, in that moment. But then he got dressed, put on his new suit, one that fit him better, tighter. And he put on the dark teal shirt and liked the way it looked with his eyes, and then he managed to put on the bow tie. 

He looked good. Handsome, May would say. Hot, Bucky would leer. 

Peter was very excited to see how MJ looked, his fingers kept tapping on the steering wheel as he drove to her place. 

When she opened the door, Peter stumbled back a step.

She wasn’t wearing a dress. Instead, she was wearing black leather pants, a pair of her usual army boots, and a large black suit jacket. It looked like a man’s suit, but it was tailored for a woman, because it fit perfectly over MJ’s hips and chest and she was not wearing a shirt underneath, but there were silver straps crossing over her chest from her bra, visible because of the low V the jacket created.

Her hair was straight, pulled back in a sleek ponytail at the base of her neck, she had a lot of black around her eyes and her face was very glowy. She always looked beautiful, to Peter, but now he couldn’t breathe. 

‘Well?’, she raised an eyebrow at him. It was meant to be condescending, but he knew her well, by now. She was nervous.

‘I thought you said you were going to buy a dress.’

‘I was.’, she straightened her back. ‘But then May took me to this cute little handmade shop-’

‘I know it well.’, he snorted.

‘- and I saw this and I loved it too much.’

Peter swallowed, thickly. ‘You look amazing.’, his voice broke, a little, making MJ’s eyelashes flutter.

‘I’m going to look like an idiot next to you.’, he shrugged, accepting it. 

‘You always look like an idiot next to me.’, came the prompt response. But then she blushed, and quickly ran her fingers over the lapel of his jacket. ‘Not so much tonight, though.’

He smiled, embarrassed but very pleased. He had to get May a very expensive gift for this.

‘Bucky is going to wreck me if he doesn’t get a picture of us.’

MJ snorted. ‘Well good thing dad wants to take pictures, too. Come on in.’

With a deep breath, Peter followed her inside of the apartment.

 

 

It wasn’t like the entire hall fell silent as they stepped inside of it, but because of his enhanced hearing, Peter heard Flash’s incredulous ‘Who the fuck’s the hottie Parker brought?’. He looked in his direction, just in time to see Flash’s jaw drop when he realized that the girl on Peter’s arm was MJ. 

‘It looks good.’ She was oblivious to all the people staring at her, focusing on the decorations and all the hard work she put into organizing it.

Peter found it terribly endearing. ‘Of course it does, you were in charge of it.’

She was still looking around the hall, so Peter waited patiently by her side, their arms still locked together. 

‘Hey, Peter.’, she whispered. ‘Why is everyone staring at us?’

So endearing. ‘They’re not staring at us. They’re staring at you.’

She turned to him, frowning, looking very unsure. ‘Why?’

‘Because they’ve never seen you look as beautiful as you do now.’

He probably should have thought before opening his mouth, but he didn’t. MJ’s eyes grew very wide and she gulped, audibly, without looking away from him.

‘They?’, she inquired.

Peter might as well throw himself fully off the ledge. ‘Well I think you look beautiful everyday, you’re just a little more polished tonight.’

It took a few moments, of MJ blushing and staring at him with a sort of incredulous look, before she smiled at him and punched his shoulder.

‘That’s enough compliments from you tonight, Parker.’

He took a deep, calming breath, pushing down his feelings. ‘Sure, MJ. You want some punch?’

‘Yeah, we should check it’s not spiked.’

Not what he meant, but he’ll take it.

 

 

It was a surprisingly fun night, considering they did not dance once and everyone in the school seemed to want to talk to them.

MJ chose a table close to the drinks, keeping an eye on the punch, and they sat down at it for most of the night. The team came over often, but other people too, people in the prom committee, teachers, random students, all wanting to congratulate MJ on a job well done.

There were some boys, too, that came over to politely ask her to dance, or not so politely point out how hot she looked. Peter stayed out of that conversations, mostly, because he knew full well that MJ could take care of herself. She brushed off all the dance invitations.

Flash tried, once. He smirked at MJ, put a hand on her shoulder and pushed his thumb onto her bare skin as he told her she looked ‘exceptionally hot’. That’s the only time Peter intervened, tightly wrapping his hand around Flash’s wrist, taking it away from MJ but not letting go after.

‘Does it bother you?’, Peter glared strongly. ‘To know someone so exceptionally hot has been standing beside you all this time but you were too stupid to notice her?’

Flash said nothing, trying to pull his hand away. Peter didn’t let go, just yet.

‘Or does it bother you that she’ll never look at you like you’re more than an unwanted acquaintance?’

This time, when Flash pulled his hand away, Peter let him go.

‘Parker, I will-’

‘Not ruin our night.’, he interrupted strongly.

It took a few beats, but Flash walked away.

‘You didn’t need to do that.’, MJ said meekly.

‘I know, I’m sorry.’, Peter looked down. ‘I know you didn’t need that, but I… I needed to do it.’

‘I’ll allow it this time.’, there was a small smile on her face. ‘Just don’t ever call me exceptionally hot ever again.’

He snorted. ‘Sorry.’

She hummed, heavily amused, just as Mr. Harrington came over to say hi.

 

 

It was a little past 11, the party was still in full swing, and there was an hostage situation at a bank five blocks away.

‘Go.’, MJ was quick to say after reading the alert on Peter’s phone. ‘It’s fine, go.’

He left quickly, running to the car. He opened the trunk and reached for his suit, but stopped. He was doing it again. He was screwing up, homecoming all over again. Only this time, it was MJ not Liz, it was someone whom he cared for way beyond a crush.

Things were different than they were at homecoming. Not just the way he felt about his date, but other things too. Important, helpful things. So Peter strongly shut the trunk and pulled out his phone, quickly dialing Steve’s number.

It was Bucky that answered. ‘Steve and I are already on our way, don’t you dare leave that party or I swear I’ll chop off your balls.’

Peter breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Stay away from my balls and let me know you’re okay when it’s done.’

Bucky said a brisk ‘copy that’ before ending the call. Peter stood in the parking lot for a few more moments, trying to convince himself that it was the right thing to do. Spider-Man couldn’t save everyone, and if there’s one thing he learned in the past months, it’s that he didn’t have to. 

He knew that Steve and Bucky could easily handle it, and he didn’t feel like he owed them anything for allowing him to not skip out on prom.

And as he walked back to MJ’s side, as he saw the way she was looking at him, incredulous but kind of excited, Peter knew he did the right thing.

‘What happened?’, she asked as soon as he sat down.

‘Nothing. I called Steve, him and Bucky were already on their way.’

‘You called-’

‘Yeah, yeah.’ he lowered his voice. ‘Spider-Man has superfriends, now. Who are willing to let him have a fun prom night.’

MJ stared at him for a long while, so much so that it was starting to get very awkward.

‘I’m proud of you.’, she seemed disgusted by it. 

He didn’t say that he did it for her, but he kinda felt like he did. 

She punched his shoulder, a lot more gently than she was capable of. Then she whined, pushed her cheek to his upper arm. Said ‘You’re ridiculous.’ like it was the worst thing that she ever had to admit. And then she got up and marched towards the punch bowl, where Flash was trying to spike it.

 

 

Steve texted half an hour later, a simple  _ Problem solved _ . 

Bucky texted  _ HAVE YOU KISSED HER YET???? _

Peter answered Steve.

 

 

Because she was in charge of organizing, MJ felt like she needed to stay till the very end of the party. Peter didn’t mind, especially considering that when people started leaving, they actually got a chance to talk to each other.

It was 3AM when MJ wrapped up everything and deemed them okay to leave. The photographer stopped them, arguing that they haven’t taken their picture together.

Surprisingly enough, MJ grabbed Peter’s hand and dragged him to the photo booth area. It was a simple white background with yellow tea lights falling over it. 

‘Are we doing the awkward prom pose?’, Peter was freaking out, internally.

MJ snorted. ‘Of course not, we’re better than that.’

She grabbed his shoulders and arms and placed him where she wanted, and Peter let her do it. At the end of it, they were standing back to back, arms crossed over their chests, heads turned to the camera.

‘Act smug.’, MJ ordered.

‘How do I do that?’, Peter frowned.

‘Picture you managed to put uh… your trainer. To the mats, you know, during training.’

Peter snorted, at first, because it has been months and he still didn’t manage to do that to Steve. Still, he pictured it, and smirked cockily, just as the flash went off.

‘You get one more.’, the photographer said as they moved to leave. He winked playfully at MJ. ‘Since everyone’s been praising you all night, it’s the least I can do.’

After saying her thanks, MJ thought about it. In the end, she got an evil spark in her eyes.

‘Hold me?’

Peter blinked, blushing furiously. ‘You said no awkward prom poses.’

‘I didn’t mean like that.’

Once again, she pushed and pulled him until he was standing where she wanted. Then, MJ stepped behind him, wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders.

‘Hold me?’, she asked again, and Peter understood it only a second before she jumped.

He held her up. MJ jumped strongly, wrapping her legs around Peter’s waist, and he was quick to grab a hold of her thighs. It was easy to keep her up, but considering the photographer didn’t know that he was Spider-Man, Peter faked stumbling a bit. It made MJ yelp and it was such a weird sound, he had to bite on his lip to keep himself from laughing.

When they settled, Peter felt every inch of MJ’s body against his back, he felt as if his fingers were digging too tightly into her thighs but he couldn’t stop doing it. She pressed her cheek to his and flattened one of her hands on his chest.

‘How am I supposed to act now?’, Peter asked.

‘Like you.’

He had a flash of a memory, Ned telling him that nobody wanted Peter to be himself. Well, if there ever was someone to act against the current, it was going to be MJ. 

Truth be told, he always acted like himself around her, especially after she found out the truth. It was something that made his heart beat faster, the realisation that not only did Peter not have to hide anything from her, but even so, MJ chose to hang out with him.

So Peter grinned like a maniac, pushing his cheek even harder to MJ’s.

 

 

He could have kissed her, that night.

In front of her apartment door, as she was thanking him awkwardly for taking her to prom and for not running away to save the day, as she wasn’t meeting his eyes but still smiling, a little, Peter really thought about kissing her.

But then he thought about how she never said this was a date, how she said she wasn’t sure.

So he didn’t kiss her. He strongly regretted that decision just a car drive later.

 

 

Tony and Steve were in the living room, looking very apologetic, as May looked concerned. 

‘Did something go wrong at the bank?’, Peter asked first.

Steve shook his head. ‘No, this is something else.’

Peter stopped himself from cursing. Instead he took off his jacket and straightened his shoulders. ‘Where do you need me?’

‘Wakanda.’, Tony said. ‘T’Challa asked for our help.’

‘It must be bad, then.’

It was the wrong thing to say, because both Tony and Steve’s expressions hardened. 

‘Shuri has a plan, but we need you.’, Steve sighed, turning to May afterwards. ‘We wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important.’

‘I know.’, May nodded. 

‘He can handle it, though.’, Tony winked at him.

Peter nodded once and went to his room, to change and pack. May followed him. She didn’t say how worried she was, didn’t ask him not to go. Instead, she asked if he had fun at prom. 

‘I did.’

‘Did you and MJ dance?’

‘No, but it’s fine.’, he smiled. ‘It was fun anyway. We took some really cool pictures, I can’t wait to see them. I just regret one thing.’

‘What?’, May asked softly.

‘I’ll tell you when I get back.’

He made a point not to use ‘if’, and May made a point in not correcting him.

 

 

It was the first proper mission since everything calmed down, the first time all of the Avengers suited up and worked together. It was also the first time he actually brought Peter on a mission, and Steve hated it.

He was needed, though, he understood that and agreed to it. T’Challa was dealing with an army of genetically engineered animal hybrids attacking his borders, it really was an all hands on deck situation, and Shuri’s plan, as crazy as it was, might just work.

Peter, though. He was in a corner of the Quinjet, sitting on the floor, talking with Bucky about his prom. Bucky was teasing him endlessly about MJ, but the kid took it in stride. He texted her to let her know he left the country, even if Bucky was reading over his shoulder, giving him very bad advice on what he should write.

The kid yawned a lot, though, which was understandable considering the hour. Bucky eventually took pity on him and let him nap, coming to Steve’s side.

‘The idiot didn’t make a move.’

Steve stared. ‘Is now really the time to discuss this?’

Bucky shrugged. ‘Nothing like a sense of doom to bring out the love.’

Wanda snorted, even if she wasn’t that close to them. 

‘How about we focus on the mission?’, he tried.

‘But Steve!’, Bucky’s eyes grew wide. ‘What if I want to confess my undying love for you?’

‘I know all that already.’, he snorted.

Bucky chuckled too, but then, in a voice so low, Steve barely heard it, he asked ‘Do you, though?’

It made Steve falter, badly. But Bucky grinned at him, not a care in the world, clapped his shoulder and made his way to Wanda.

Steve did his best to go back into a mission mindset.

 

 

As soon as they were off the Quinjet, Steve heard a distinctly feminine voice yelling ‘Spider-Boy!’. It didn’t take long to notice Shuri running full speed towards them. She didn’t stop when she reached Peter, she jumped straight at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

Peter yelped in surprise, but he did hold her up, hugging her tightly and whining about how she was embarrassing him in front of all the superheroes. 

Highly amused, Steve turned to look at T’Challa just in time to see him purse his lips. Laughing loudly, he went to the king’s side and assured him that he didn’t need to direct his death glare towards Peter. 

‘How sure are you of that?’, he narrowed his eyes at the two kids.

Shuri’s fingers were in Peter’s hair and his hands were on her thigh, but very close to her butt. Their cheeks were pressed together and they were whispering.

‘Very sure.’, Steve smiled. ‘Trust me on that.’

T’Challa sighed deeply, but then he nodded. ‘Children, if you’re done frolicking’, he said strongly, ‘we have work to do.’ 

Peter was blushing when Shuri released her hold on his, but he also politely apologized to T’Challa and shook his hand.

And then they got to work.

 

 

Steve knew the fight was going to be bad, but he didn’t think it would be this bad. Shuri’s plan got thrown out the window quickly. But they didn’t stop fighting, of course they didn’t.

He tried to keep an eye out for everyone, two eyes on Bucky and Peter. But it was a difficult thing to do, considering he also had to fight for himself.

The hybrids were ruthless. Ugly and terrifying, incredibly hard to beat and they did not stop their attacks. They were doing it smartly, attacking in formations, going for their weak spots. The evil guy gunning for Wakanda was controlling them, and Vision, T’Challa and Wanda were going for him. It was taking too long, though.

At one point, Steve thought that was it.

He was alone, no other ally in sight, surrounded by hybrids, douzens of them. They attacked him instantly, and Steve fought, he really did, but it was pointless. The hybrids pushed him to the ground and descended on him, keeping him there, punching and kicking.

Steve couldn’t get up. He couldn’t fight anymore.

‘Guys, I-’, was all he managed to say before one of the hybrids stabbed him in the chest.

He screamed.

‘Cap, Cap, Steve.’, Peter was saying in his ear. ‘I’m here, I just need you to get them off. Steve, throw them off and I’ll keep them away.’

He tried, really he did. ‘I can’t do it.’, he sobbed, pain cursing through every cell of his body.

‘Yes you can!’, Peter yelled. ‘Steve, get up. Get the fuck up, now!’

‘Steve!’, Bucky joined the conversation. He was running, panting. ‘We are not ending here, get up.’

‘I can’t.’, he sobbed harder.

‘This is not the end of the line, Steve!’, Bucky yelled, angry as hell. ‘You’re not leaving me behind. Get up!’

‘Get up, Cap!’, Peter yelled. ‘We’ve got you, but you need to get up!’

Steve screamed, again. His whole body was trembling, but he was moving. Bucky kept saying his name, over and over again, pleading. Peter kept talking too, ‘You can do this, come on, if I could get out from under a building, you can get these fuckers.’

Slowly, Steve moved. Trembling and in pain, screaming all the while, but he moved. He didn’t really know what happened, because as soon as he saw the sun again, he fell back to his knees. When he managed to stop screaming and look around, he saw that all the hybrids were held together by Peter’s spider web, and that Bucky was a few feet away, machine gun shooting continuously at the pile.

The battle was still raging on around them, until it wasn’t.

Like a flip of a switch, all the hybrids fell, motionless, to the ground. T’Challa, Vision and Wanda had managed to deactivate them.

Peter landed next to Steve.

‘Oh, you got stabbed too.’

‘Too?’, Steve yelped.

Peter sat down, hands going to his stomach. ‘Only three times, I think.’ He winced. ‘Maybe four.’

‘Shuri, get the med lab ready.’, Steve could hear Bucky’s voice, but he couldn’t look away from the blood on the Spider-Man suit.

He felt Bucky’s hands on his chest, and it made him snap out of it. ‘Get Peter first. He’s worse.’

Bucky looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t. Instead he kissed Steve’s forehead, before he picked Peter up and headed towards the palace. Steve passed out.

 

 

He woke up in a bed in the med wing. Peter was sleeping in another bed by his side, Shuri sitting close to his legs, reading from a pad. It took a few moments, but she noticed that he was awake. 

She smiled at him brightly. ‘You’re gonna be okay, and so will Peter.’

Steve nodded, slowly. 

‘Cap?’, Shuri smirked. ‘You might wanna wake up your puppy.’

He frowned, because he did not have a dog. But she pointed to his legs, and Steve only then noticed the extra weight on them. Sure enough, Bucky was sitting in a chair at the end of the bed, but his arms were crossed over Steve’s legs, head on them. He was asleep, but once Steve moved his toes, he snapped up awake.

Bucky looked to Steve with wide eyes. ‘Shuri’, he did not look at her, ‘get out.’

‘But-’, she seemed affronted.

‘Please.’, Bucky still didn’t look at her.

With a deep sigh and some mumbled curse words, Shuri left the room. 

Bucky was quick, he got off the chair and sat on the bed, instead, by Steve’s hip. He started talking in a whisper. 

‘Peter’s gonna be fine. His healing started kicking in quickly, they’ve been keeping him asleep just to bypass the pain. I talked with May, calmed her down. MJ and Ned are keeping her company till we go back.’

Steve nodded at that, very relieved.

Bucky’s breath hitched on his next words. ‘They nicked your heart, when you got stabbed. You died on the operating table.’

‘Did I?’, Steve frowned. He felt… surprisingly fine.

‘Yeah.’, Buck’s voice hitched again. ‘You’re gonna be fine, they fixed you up. But…’, he took a deep breath. ‘You’re not allowed to do that again.’

He laughed at that, and his chest kind of hurt. ‘Don’t make me laugh, just yet.’

Bucky bit on his lower lip, something desperate in his teary eyes.

‘Hey.’, Steve whispered. ‘I’m fine, I’m gonna be-’

Bucky kissed him, effectively shutting him up. And haywiring his heart. Steve stopped breathing.

It didn’t last long, Bucky pulling away, but he put his flesh hand on Steve’s cheek.

‘I’ve loved you for so long, Stevie.’, he whispered. ‘I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep going head first into a fight, knowing that we might not come back, knowing that I could lose you. I can’t do it anymore without you knowing just how much I love you. Steve, I-’

It was Steve that kissed him this time. It was Steve that shut Bucky up. 

‘Me too.’, he said against his lips. ‘I’ve been in love with you since as long as I can remember.’

Wordlessly, they went back to kissing. Strongly and rapidly and explosive, just like they’ve always been.

‘Am I dreaming?’, Peter mumbled. ‘Why would I be dreaming of Steve and Bucky making out?’

Needless to say, both of them started laughing. Steve’s chest still hurt, but it was also filled with joy and love and excitement. Pain didn’t matter at all, right then.

 

 

It was only the three of them on the Quinjet back to the States. Steve was trying to be professional, but Bucky couldn’t seem to be able to keep his hands off him.

Honestly, Peter didn’t care. Well, no, he did care, he cared a lot about Steve and Bucky both, and he cared a surprising amount about the fact that they’ve gotten together. He couldn’t care less about the PDAs, though. He couldn’t stop grinning at them.

Steve kept rolling his eyes at him, even as he was blushing, but Bucky grinned, proud and unbashful, at Peter.

‘Hey, Steve.’, Peter kept on grinning. ‘Do you remember that time I asked you if Bucky was pinning over anyone?’

‘Yes.’, Steve frowned, pointedly ignoring Bucky’s curious expression.

‘I should have figured it out then.’, Peter said softly.

‘You and me both.’, Steve chuckled.

‘You know what else you should figure out?’, Bucky pinned Peter down with a strong look. ‘How you’re gonna ask MJ out.’

Excitement bubbled up in Peter’s chest just at the thought of it. He knew he was going to do it, there was nothing that could stop him from doing it. He didn’t think MJ was going to reject him, and that helped, but most of all, he just knew he couldn’t keep it in any much longer. 

‘I’ll figure it out.’, he said out loud, even if Peter couldn’t really think of anything.

Bucky did a double take. ‘What, really?’

‘Yeah. I should have done something at prom, but… I’m gonna do it, soon.’

‘Good luck.’, Steve smiled fondly.

‘He doesn’t need luck.’, Bucky snorted. ‘That girl’s head over heels in love with him.’

Peter blushed something fiercely, but he still held onto that thought.

 

 

He held onto it until the last day of school. 

Every day, there were moments when Peter was bursting with the need to do something. Ask MJ our on a date, hug her, kiss her, hold her hand, wrap his arms around her and web them to a rooftop. Anything and everything.

He didn’t, though. Each and every time, there was someone else around, or MJ was talking about something important, or he just couldn’t get the words out.

And now, it was the last day of school before the summer, and he still hadn’t said anything. He was going to, though. They were going to go at a party at Mr. Harrington’s that evening, and somehow, he will manage to get MJ alone and ask her out. 

An opportunity arose before that.

During English, when they were just watching a movie, Peter went to the bathroom. On his way back to class, he saw that MJ was alone in the hallway, sitting on the floor, back against the lockers. She was reading, of course.

Still, she smiled when he saw Peter making his way towards her, closing the book. He sat down in front of her.

‘Are you ditching class? On the last day of school?’

‘Of course not.’, she scoffed. ‘I got into an argument with Mr. Fullrite over the Sokovia Accords and he begged me to leave.’

‘Of course you did.’, he smiled fondly. 

He kept looking at her and smiling, making her uncomfortable. ‘What?’, she finally asked, punching his chest.

‘I’ve been thinking.’, he started.

‘Never a good idea.’

‘Sometimes a good idea.’, Peter smiled. ‘So, I’ve been thinking about prom.’

That shut her up quickly. She blinked twice, looking at him with curiosity, no more malice or teasing in sight. It gave him enough strength to go on.

‘I’ve been thinking about how you let me take you to prom. And how much I wanted to do it. I mean, MJ, you know, I-’. 

He stopped and took a deep breath, tried again. 

‘I know prom wasn’t a date, you said that and that’s fine, but I… I really wanted it to be.’

She looked away from him at that, but her cheeks were red and she pursed her lips. Peter pushed on.

‘I’ve been wanting that for a while and honestly, at the end of that night, when we were in front of your apartment door, I really wanted to kiss you.’

Her head snapped back to him, eyes wide.

Peter gulped. ‘And then I went to Wakanda and it was horrible, it was…’, his voice broke, ‘really freaking bad, and all I kept thinking was that I really should have done something. That I wanted to do something and I regretted it so much and-’

MJ surged forward. Honestly, it wasn’t smooth, like at all. 

She kind of startled Peter, so he jumped and leaned backwards, a little, steadying himself with a hand on the floor. It didn’t stop MJ. She aimed for his lips but missed, a little, her lips pressing against his cheek.

But when Peter was done moving, MJ pressed a few more kisses, small and chaste and so very sweet, from his cheek down to the corner of his lips.

They were both a little wide eyed when they pulled apart.

‘You should go back to class.’, she whispered.

He couldn’t help but feel disappointed. She was the one who kissed him, and now she was dismissing him? It was confusing.

Still, Peter knew better than to press. So he smiled at her and got up. 

His legs felt only a little shaky as he walked away. 

‘Hey, Peter.’, she made him stop walking. ‘Pick me up tonight for the party?’

He quickly turned around to look at her. MJ was smiling at him, somewhat cocky, but fond too. A lot of fondness, there. Peter kind of… lost it, at that. He let the hall pass fall to the floor, and he ran back to her, falling to his knees and sliding the last few feet, until he was in front of her again, until he could gently grab her cheeks and kiss her.

Properly kiss her. His aim was perfect, he met her lips on the first try. Her skin was very soft under his fingers and she closed her eyes first, even as one of her hands came up and wrapped around his wrist.

He didn’t kiss her for too long, but when he stopped, he didn’t let go of her, just yet.

‘Can I pick you up tomorrow, too?’

MJ frowned. ‘What are we doing tomorrow?’

‘We’re going to a pool party.’

Her frown deepened, making him grin.

‘May and Ned are coming too. Shuri says she’s gonna stop by.’

Hey eyebrows raised at that.

‘It’s Tony’s party, so all the other Avengers are going to be there.’

MJ’s jaw dropped. ‘You wanna take me too?’

He kissed her again, just pressed their lips together, quickly, three times.

‘Bucky and Steve are gonna be there, for sure. They’re kissing too now, by the way.’

She yelped.

‘I really need to get back to class.’ With one last quick kiss, he let go of her and headed back down the hallway.

‘What do you mean they’re kissing now?’, MJ kind of screeched.

Peter didn’t stop walking, but he did walk backwards, grinning at her.

‘Parker, what the fuck?’

He jumped a step of two, too excited to stop himself.

‘Get back here!’, she yelled loudly.

‘I’ve got class, sorry, see you later!’

‘Peter!’

‘I’ll pick you up tonight! And tomorrow!’

She started cursing at him, but it still sounded a little fond, and he couldn’t, for the life of him, stop grinning.

The teacher raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him. ‘Mr. Parker, is there a reason why your face is on fire?’

He was too happy to be embarrassed by it. ‘Yes. Yes there is.’

 

 

To be fair, Peter did keep his promise and picked MJ up on the day of the pool party.

However, he had to do it in his suit. And with a Quinjet, flown by Bucky. Steve was there, too.

MJ took it in stride. She came to the rooftop of her building and rolled her eyes. But once she was on the jet, she kissed Peter, mumbling ‘Perks’ against his lips.

He didn’t have a chance to tell Steve and Bucky about the development with MJ. Steve looked very proud of them, but Bucky looked like he was going to explode in excitement. It was okay, though, because MJ had the same reaction when she saw Steve and Bucky kissing.

And a few hours later, all of them reacted in the same way, worse even, when Pepper and Tony announced that they were pregnant. 

Everyone started hugging, then, and MJ looked a little overwhelmed, especially when Wanda and Vision hugged her from each side, with Sam jumping on her back.

‘Perks.’, she said slowly, eyes wide. ‘Peter Perks.’

He started laughing really loudly at that, but he also went and kissed her, ignoring the fact that they had three Avengers yelping in surprise. 

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe a wrote a marvel fic without clint in it. jesus who even am I anymore.


End file.
